If I am not mistaken, WJLA7 is running a test at that time as well.

-SUO

WRC (nbc4) are doing it as well, so it looks like they might have got together to do this. I was doing some searching and found a forum where people were upset about their digital tv's failing on one channel via dish networks, they were all annoyed that the station hadn't done their work to become digital :)

I'm still waiting for RCN to get Universal HD and SciFi HD. One day it's on their lineup, the next day it's not, then the next day it is, and then again it's not.

Hi all -

In case there's anyone from Discovery who reads this, for the last week or two, when I'm watching Discovery HD on Dish Network, many times when they go to a commercial break, the picture will freeze after a couple of seconds, then both the audio will go away for 3-4 seconds, then everthing will come back. It repeats this until the program comes back. It doesn't happen every commercial break, but enough times that it gets annoying... It doesn't matter if it's a national ad, or a promo for another show on the Discovery channel. Also, I've only noticed it on Discovery HD.

It never occurs during the actual program, just the commercials. Since the commercials are what's paying the bills, that seems to be kind of bad, to me...

It wasn't really blacked out. The MD/BC game ran long, and that is what was being blacked out. Once that game was over the blackout was lifted.

Thanks FineWare! I was going crazy :-)

-Mike

Digital Transition Summary for DC, Baltimore, Hagerstown Stations

The following is my attempt at summarizing the pre and post transition digital channels, power levels, and status of filings for the full power stations in the DC, Baltimore, and Hagerstown markets. I sorted the list by the post-transition physical broadcast channel, which I think is more useful for highlighting the upper VHF stations and possible signal conflicts. The technical shorthand terms are ERP (Effective Radiated Power) in kW, HAAT (antenna Height Above Average Terrain) in meters, CP = Construction Permit granted by the FCC. A number of stations filed maximized power applications in June on which the FCC has not acted on yet.

At the bottom is a separate list for the digital low power (LD) stations in DC and the stronger digital low power CPs in the western edge of the DC area. Some of the LD CPs may not be built; I suspect some of them are placeholders for future filings for better channel allotments. The analog low power stations do not have to shut down next Feb. 17. In this research, I found that WZDC-DC Telemundo 25 recently filed for and was granted a digital flash cut on UHF 25 post-transition. Their digital allotment provides for an increased coverage area over their current analog one, although the coverage pattern is still directional favoring the east. When WHAG-TV 25 shuts down its’ analog signal on Feb. 17, that will eliminate interference problems which should help picking up WZDC-CA NW of DC.

The columns are: Station, Location, Pre-transition actual digital channel, Pre-transition DT ERP, Post-transition actual digital channel, Post-Transition current ERP allotment, post-transition HAAT in meters, and Notes/Comments. Hope the list is readable.


Station Location PreDT ERP(kW) PostDT ERP(kW) HAAT(m) Notes
WJLA-DT ABC 7 DC 39 646 7 13.6 235 maximized app pending for 30 kW
WUSA-DT CBS 9 DC 34 1000 9 12.6 235
WBAL-DT NBC 11 Baltimore 59 513 11 5 299
WWPX-DT ion 60 Martinsburg 12 23 12 23 314 Petition pending to move DTV operations to 51 in VA
WJZ-DT CBS 13 Baltimore 38 1000 13 28.8 295 To operate on STA basis on DT 13 (9.8kW) until 5/15/09.
WFDC-DT uni 14 DC 15 325 15 1000 227 CP granted for 1000 kW post-transition
WVPY-DT PBS 42 Front Royal 21 50 21 50 400 app filed in Oct 08 for 100 kW post-transition
WNVC-DT MHz 56 Fairfax 57 dark 24 160 221 Maximized app for 160 kW granted, off air until 02/18/09
WHAG-DT NBC 25 Hagerstown 55 0.9 26 575 376
WETA-DT PBS 26 DC 27 90 27 90 254 Petition pending to move to 51 for DTV operation at 674 kW
WFPT-DT PBS 62 Frederick 28 30 28 41.2 158 Maximized app for 41.2 kW granted
WMPB-DT PBS 67 Baltimore 29 14 29 42.6 309 Maximized app for 42.6 kW granted
WNVT-DT MHz 30 Goldvein 30 160 30 160 229
WHUT-DT PBS 32 DC 33 100 33 100 254 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WPXW-DT ion 66 Manass->DC 43 90 34 110 221 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WDCA-DT MyN 20 DC 35 500 35 500 227 maximized app pending for 950 kW
WTTG-DT Fox 5 DC 36 1000 36 1000 227
WMAR-DT ABC 2 Baltimore 52 613 38 1000 312
WJAL-DT ind 68 Hagerstown 16 6 39 105 372
WNUV-DT CW 54 Baltimore 40 845 40 845 373
WUTB-DT MyN 24 Catonsville 41 200 41 200 308 maximized app pending for 290 kW
WMPT-DT PBS 22 Annapolis 42 150 42 150 289 maximized app pending for 516 kW
WWPB-DT PBS 31 Hagerstown 44 209 44 209 359 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WBFF-DT Fox 45 Baltimore 46 550 46 550 373
WRC-DT NBC 4 DC 48 813 48 813 242
WDCW-DT CW 50 DC 51 125 50 122 253 maximized app pending for 1000 kW

Digital Low Power Stations in DC and in the western edge of the DC market
WMDO Telef 47 DC 8 0.198 8 0.198 150 on the air in late summer 08.
W08EE WV PBS Martinsburg 8 0.3 8 0.3 281 on the air
WWTD ind 49 DC - - 14 0.1 179 CP granted Jan 08
WDDN Dayst 23 DC - - 21 1 213 CP granted Mar 07
WZDC Telem 25 DC - - 25 4.6 116 CP granted Oct 08 for digital flash cut post-transition
WIAV AsiaVis 58 DC - - 44 0.1 45 CP granted May 08
WAZW rlg 48 Winchester - - 46 12 78 CP granted Jan 07
W51CY CW 51 Hagerstown - - 51 15 379 Satellite TX for WDCW, tower located east of Hagerstown

How did you calculate the HAAT on the low-powered stations?

- Trip

Yes, the audio stutter had disappeared and now it's back.

How did you calculate the HAAT on the low-powered stations? - Trip
Clicked on the Calculate HAAT link on the FCC detailed TV query results web page for each LD station.

Clicked on the Calculate HAAT link on the FCC detailed TV query results web page for each LD station.

Nice! I hadn't noticed that before. I'm unobservant. =)

- Trip

Hi all -

Was Legend of the Seeker only available in SD this weekend? It was in SD on WNUV and WGN America.

I heard it was a distribution problem and was in SD all over.

- Trip

It appears this morning, Fox has added the Speed Channel, Fox News and FX all in HD. More More More.

Was Legend of the Seeker only available in SD this weekend? It was in SD on WNUV and WGN America.

I heard it was a distribution problem and was in SD all over.

- Trip

Sorry - I knew we didn't get it in HD, but I wasn't sure why... I'll try to post it if we have any problems in the future, and thanks for the info -

It appears this morning, Fox has added the Speed Channel, Fox News and FX all in HD. More More More.

My Tivo announced the new channels, and the guide data is there - no picture on FX or Fox - Speed has a picture. I quess Comcast has trouble turning on channels when they announce them.

MOJO ceased to exist today. Versus HD and Golf HD are still combined and available on Comcast. The official date for the separate channels is 12/8.

SALISBURY — Comcast said it has added three new high definition networks to its programming for digital cable customers on the Lower Shore.

Comcast customers in Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties can now watch Fox News Channel HD, FX HD and Speed HD.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20081201/NEWS01/81201027/1002

So anyone contact WBAL recently regarding 5.1 sound? I am still patiently waiting for them to rectify this oversight. Anyone get any communication from them that they are at least aware of it? I have emailed in the past, and never gotten a reply.

So anyone contact WBAL recently regarding 5.1 sound? I am still patiently waiting for them to rectify this oversight. Anyone get any communication from them that they are at least aware of it? I have emailed in the past, and never gotten a reply.

Don't waste your time.

It's hard to believe that anyone would prefer Golf HD full time to Mojo. Mojo was a pretty decent channel.

Comcast has moved Versus/Golf HD to 226 where MOJO was. Its old location at 254 is now Golf HD. But both are still showing the combined programming for now.

According to DCRTV: "DC DTV "Test" Today - 12/2 - We tipped you earlier. Now more. At 5:28 PM today, WRC/4, WDCA/20, WTTG/5, WETA/26, WJLA/7, WHUT/32, WUSA/9, WDCW/50, WFDC/14, and WPXW/66 will participate in a digital TV "test" - interrupting their analog signal for two minutes to inform viewers that "if they see this message" they're not ready for the DTV switch-off in February....."

So all the DC stations will participate in this "test" today. I think a 2 minute "test" is too short, but even that will help get some people's attention. The test may be most useful to those on small cable or in-house systems in the area. While the bigger players like Comcast, RCN should either have or will soon switch to the digital channel source for their basic analog/SD tier, there may well be small cable systems or dedicated in-house systems for motels or retirement homes/communities that are still passing on the analog broadcast signal.

A more useful test for those who are already all digital on their OTA viewing would be for WJLA-DT 7 and WUSA-DT 9 (and WBAL-DT 11 and WJZ-DT 13) to do a temporary flash cut - maybe late at night - to their upper VHF channels so people can see if their antenna setup can get the VHF station. But this test would have be at least half-hour long so we have time to re-scan and measure signal strengths.

A more useful test for those who are already all digital on their OTA viewing would be for WJLA-DT 7 and WUSA-DT 9 (and WBAL-DT 11 and WJZ-DT 13)

I posted this before but there is something about the DC and Baltimore CBS feed that does not work with my Toshiba HDTV OTA audio. I can not get audio on either WUSA-DT 9 (9.1) or WJZ-DT 13 (13.1). I have done dozens of rescans. Second time this has occured.

This is a simple question, probably, but I will admit to my ignorance on the issue. My mother-in-law lives in a brick rowhouse in the Dundalk MD area (21222). Currently, we are using an indoor amplified antenna for her OTA, but it is really spotty. She receives no PBS from either digital 22 or 67 and both 2 and 45 cut in and out.

I've been wanting to install a low maintenance outdoor antenna (I'm a little scared of dealing with her steep roof to install a larger one, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't allow me to pay for a pro to do the work.)

Does anyone familiar with the area know what I'd need to guarantee reception of the Baltimore locals (about 11 miles away) and what more I'd need to pull in DC (35-40 miles away)? It looks like I have about a 73 degree span between Baltimore and DC towers.

I'd check over in hardware, but I was hoping for some advice from someone with knowledge of the terrain.

My first thought would be to put a antenna up in the attic. At only 11 miles you really shouldn't have any problems with the Baltimore channels. The DC channels will depend on your reception of course. A Channel Master 4221 UHF antenna is pretty good and narrow enough to fit up in an attic. At 11 miles, you shouldn't need to amplify.

My first thought would be to put a antenna up in the attic. At only 11 miles you really shouldn't have any problems with the Baltimore channels. The DC channels will depend on your reception of course. A Channel Master 4221 UHF antenna is pretty good and narrow enough to fit up in an attic. At 11 miles, you shouldn't need to amplify.

Thanks. Will that still work when 11 and 13 return to VHF?

Thanks. Will that still work when 11 and 13 return to VHF?
At 11 miles and provided the signals are reasonably strong in the attic, the CM 4221 should work for VHF 11 and 13. I would not expect it to get WJLA-DT 7 and WUSA-DT 9 at ~ 38 miles when they switch. But I could be wrong, depends on how strong the signals are at your mother-in-law's house.

The Channel Master 4221 UHF antenna is useful for locations where there is a wide spread between stations. So it is a good start for your situation. Assuming the attic is not lined with metal, the CM 4221 should do a lot better than an indoor antenna down inside the house. Depending on how the townhouse is oriented, you could mount the CM 4221 high up on the side of the house, using a satellite dish J mount. If you get the CM 4221, I would try aiming it towards the DC stations and see if it can pick up the closer Baltimore stations off to the side. If getting WJLA-DT 7 and WUSA-DT 9 is important and they don't come in reliably after February 17, you could add a short range upper VHF antenna and a VHF/UHF combiner next spring.

There is a new version of the CM4221 which has come out, the CM4221HD (see http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=4221-HD).

BTW, make sure you use RG-6 co-axial cable for the antenna run, not RG-59. RG-59 has notably higher dB loss per foot for UHF frequencies than RG-6, so RG-6 should be used for cable runs of any significant length.

I posted this before but there is something about the DC and Baltimore CBS feed that does not work with my Toshiba HDTV OTA audio. I can not get audio on either WUSA-DT 9 (9.1) or WJZ-DT 13 (13.1). I have done dozens of rescans. Second time this has occured.
If you get a solid video picture, the issue is not with the RF broadcast channel. I would start by double checking that you have not set SAP or some other funky audio selection for those 2 stations. If that does not fix it, then contact the stations and Toshiba. Could be an issue with the audio encoding used by the CBS affiliates, but I don't recall seeing complaints from others here with Toshiba or other TV or tuners in getting the OTA audio for those 2 stations. Might be worthwhile to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your specific Toshiba TV model.

can anyone clear up for me why Comcast Anne Arundel County does not show WRC TV 4,WUSA TV 9 and WJLA TV 7 in HD?

I posted this before but there is something about the DC and Baltimore CBS feed that does not work with my Toshiba HDTV OTA audio. I can not get audio on either WUSA-DT 9 (9.1) or WJZ-DT 13 (13.1). I have done dozens of rescans. Second time this has occured.

That is quite peculiar. afiggatt's explanation maybe right that some sort of odd audio selection may be enabled. But I have a Toshiba TV that does the exact same thing, except the problem extends to all OTA channels. It could be that the TV needs a firmware update to correct your issue. Sometimes the TV's DSP chip hangs and gives the result you (don't) hear. Of course that's not to say that the stations could be sending slightly erroneous data, and the DSP chip can't keep up with the error checking it maybe doing. Hopefully I could answer your question.

I noticed during the DTV test that on RCN cable here in D.C., the special message showed up on the SD channels for WHUT and WETA, even though I thought the digital signals for both were now being used.

I noticed during the DTV test that on RCN cable here in D.C., the special message showed up on the SD channels for WHUT and WETA, even though I thought the digital signals for both were now being used.

Same for WRC on Dish Network (on an SD set top box).

Did not appear on WRC on Fios.

Comcast has moved Versus/Golf HD to 226 where MOJO was. Its old location at 254 is now Golf HD. But both are still showing the combined programming for now.

We are getting VS.HD on 226 in Alexandria....in STANDARD DEFINITION if you can believe that. Still no FX, Speed or FNC.

Washington DC Area DTV test through Verizon FiOS

4 WRC - news continued
5 WTTG- DTV Test Bars appeared (anchor also mentioned that the bars appeared on most of the monitors in the studio) :rolleyes:
7 WJLA - news continued
9 WUSA - news continued

504, 505, 507, 509 - news continued

If you get a solid video picture, the issue is not with the RF broadcast channel. I would start by double checking that you have not set SAP or some other funky audio selection for those 2 stations. If that does not fix it, then contact the stations and Toshiba. Could be an issue with the audio encoding used by the CBS affiliates, but I don't recall seeing complaints from others here with Toshiba or other TV or tuners in getting the OTA audio for those 2 stations. Might be worthwhile to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your specific Toshiba TV model.

That is quite peculiar. afiggatt's explanation maybe right that some sort of odd audio selection may be enabled. But I have a Toshiba TV that does the exact same thing, except the problem extends to all OTA channels. It could be that the TV needs a firmware update to correct your issue. Sometimes the TV's DSP chip hangs and gives the result you (don't) hear. Of course that's not to say that the stations could be sending slightly erroneous data, and the DSP chip can't keep up with the error checking it maybe doing. Hopefully I could answer your question.


Thanks. If the TV was set to SAP or other then all channels would be affected and not just the CBS feeds. This is the second time it has happened. The first time CBS DC was multicasting March Madness on 9.1 & 9.2 and then sound came back. The CBS DC Tech Director told me they were using a "new (on loan), more efficeint, ATSC encoder". Since there is no sound on both CBS broadcasts from DC and also Baltimore I suspect CBS as there broadcast setups are probably the same.

I doubt firmware can be upgraded in this set - there is no usb or RS232 port?

I noticed a new iTV (interactive TV) submenu on my Comcast menu. The only selection so far is Caller ID.

We are getting VS.HD on 226 in Alexandria....in STANDARD DEFINITION if you can believe that. Still no FX, Speed or FNC.

It's just a remap of 254, when I watched it everything appeared either in HD or upconvert.

So far, it appears that Dish and RCN had not yet changed over to digital feeds for all local broadcasts, and Verizon FIOS did not have a digital feed for WTTG (channel 5).

Customers of these services who rely on captioning need to be concerned about this due to the technical requirements to transmit digital captioning. The longer these companies wait to set up their digital feed, the more likely there will be problems with the captioning on these feeds.

Did anyone notice problems with local broadcasts received by Comcast?

Dana

So far, it appears that Dish and RCN had not yet changed over to digital feeds for all local broadcasts, and Verizon FIOS did not have a digital feed for WTTG (channel 5).

Customers of these services who rely on captioning need to be concerned about this due to the technical requirements to transmit digital captioning. The longer these companies wait to set up their digital feed, the more likely there will be problems with the captioning on these feeds.

Did anyone notice problems with local broadcasts received by Comcast?

Dana

How can ATSC be over an anlog feed? It's digital, by definition.

The future of WRC? Presumably HD would be in the cards, but the cost appears to be a complete gutting of the existing staff and talent.

Coming soon to a TV newsroom in your city?
The Business of Television
WNBC set for makeover
Network gambles on radical new strategy
By Mike Flaherty, Variety, December 3, 2008

At one of the media world's most potent addresses, 30 Rockefeller Center, a radical makeover is under way just down the hall from "Today" (http://www.variety.com/profiles/Film/main/135970/Today.html?dataSet=1)and "Saturday Night Live." (http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/30478/Saturday%20Night%20Live.html?dataSet=1)

The stem-to-stern transformation of WNBC, the Peacock's flagship O&O, aims to turn it from just another local affil to a "content center" reaching websites, taxis, grocery stores -- even hospital delivery rooms.

The $15 million project entails not just a physical renovation and tech upgrade but a massive exodus of veteran (read: pricey) staffers, with just a handful staying onboard as of Jan. 1. Battered by the economy, NBC Universal (http://www.variety.com/profiles/Company/main/2129474/NBC%20Universal.html?dataSet=1) parent GE, not to mention station owners such as News Corp., Tribune and Sinclair, are watching closely to see if Gotham will provide a survival guide for local news.

Union leaders and media watchdogs, meanwhile, characterize the change as a lawless, dehumanizing assault on journalistic tradition. And those clinging to jobs describe a bizarre scene with vets on one side of the newsroom and relative tyros on the other, with nary a word being exchanged.

"They don't call Cheez-Whiz 'cheese' on the package; they call it a 'cheese product'," said one survivor. "What's going to be produced here isn't really news. It's a news product. And you have to wonder what will happen when a major story breaks and you have someone from a small market who was cheap enough to hire."

Two changes in particular have made heads spin -- one is the systematic retraining of the staff. The other is a pool arrangement with Fox whereby the routine day-to-day events (e.g., a mayoral news conference) will be handled by one station and shared with the other. The cost-cutting plan was announced by NBC for some major markets, beginning with a January tryout in Philadelphia.

The pool deal portends fewer unique stories and a loss of the competitive stakes that drive most TV journos. The retraining is more drastic -- seasoned, Emmy-winning cameramen and writers are now out in the field reporting or writing, and vice versa. Crews no longer pile into satellite trucks to chase a police shooting in Queens. A single "content producer" grabs a high-end camcorder and a notepad and heads to the scene.

WNBC is used to setting trends of a different variety. For more than a decade, beginning in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, it served as a high-toned farm system for the networks, birthing a lifestyle-infused genre with "Live at Five." Alums include "Today" co-host Matt Lauer (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/621573/Matt%20Lauer.html?dataSet=1), CNN's Jack Cafferty (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/232508/Jack%20Cafferty.html?dataSet=1) and onetime "20/20" (http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/152994/20%2F20.html?dataSet=1) co-anchor John Miller (javascript:zodInfuser.FillDescriptions('John%20Miller');).

Two mainstays remain amid the construction rubble: Chuck Scarborough (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/47017/Chuck%20Scarborough.html?dataSet=1) and Sue Simmons (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/949032/Sue%20Simmons.html?dataSet=1), the city's longest-running co-anchor duo. Ensconced with long-term deals, they have not been unseated despite the station's overall ratings decline (though station insiders say Simmons has rebuffed several buyout offers).

Since Nov. 17, Scarborough and Simmons(who still get occasional on-air ribbing by former 30 Rock neighbor David Letterman (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/635851/David%20Letterman.html?dataSet=1)) have been perched on a sleek new set. The cosmetic change pales next to the upheaval that began in the spring when WNBC execs announced that its newsroom would be remade.

Over the summer, many of the station's off-mic employees were told that their positions were being eliminated but that they could apply to be part of a new team of "content producers" feeding the main station as well as a planned 24/7 digital channel.

As the makeover progresses, WNBC continues to languish in the ratings cellar. It averaged a paltry 17,000 viewers at 5 p.m. in October, compared with 38,000 at Fox's WNYW (http://www.variety.com/profiles/Company/main/2121567/WNYW.html?dataSet=1), 71,000 at WCBS and 126,000 at WABC (http://www.variety.com/profiles/Company/main/2118891/WABC.html?dataSet=1). At 6, it garnered an anemic 28,000 demo viewers as opposed to the 41,000, 58,000 and 133,000 of its respective rivals.

Then, of course, came the collapsing economy. According to Jeff Logsdon, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Group, local TV is "the first to feel (a recession) and the last to recover from it."

Ed McEwan (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/703074/Ed%20McEwan.html?dataSet=1), Local 11 prexy of the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, which has represented the station's cameramen, writers and editors, believes that NBC's Washington, D.C., outlet, WRC, will soon morph into a "content center." A WNBC rep confirms it's "certainly a model that's being evaluated for our other stations."

"We have the opportunity to evolve into a very dynamic channel," said the station's prexy and general manager, Tom O'Brien. "We're making a $15 million investment in technology that will simplify the workflow." As a result, "some jobs may not exist in their current form and the new jobs will be aligned to the way we need to produce multimedia content."

But where O'Brien sees streamlining and modernizing, others see less salient motives. "It's partly union busting and it's partly done for financial reasons," McEwan said of the overhaul, noting that NABET has filed six labor grievances since June, all of which have been settled.

Originally, WNBC announced that the content producers would not be union jobs and that existing employees would have to give up their memberships in order to apply for the new positions. In late October a deal was struck to allow those workers to keep them. The content producer ranks now include union and nonunion employees, and are salaried positions.

In addition, daily hires -- freelance unionized personnel, many of whom worked full-time hours -- have been eliminated.

"The amazing thing is that they want to get rid of all this high-priced talent and they're cutting back on everything, but we are just down the hall from 'Today,' the ultimate cash cow. So while we can't even get coffee anymore, they're setting up these elaborate catered breakfasts down there."

O'Brien wouldn't comment on prospective budget savings or staff cuts that will result from the changes. One former staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity (released personnel were required to sign a pledge not to sue the station or speak to the media) said management's moves are doomed to result in a skeleton crew charged with creating a generic, inferior product.

"It's a miserable place to be," said the staffer, who claimed that a shrinking stable of professional cameramen has made it increasingly difficult to find a crew for on-the-street segments. "The people who are staying are saying, 'Oh my god, who's left to do the work?' "

The staffer alleged that, despite that reality, "Making the 5 and 6 o'clock newscasts is irrelevant to these changes."

McEwan agreed. "They've decided that they're really not interested in quality ... they just want to put something on to fill the airtime."

O'Brien admitted that the round-the-clock cable channel is "not news-focused" and will emphasize lifestyle coverage, much of which will come from the LX.TV production shingle, which was acquired by NBC Local Media in January. Nevertheless, he insisted that the over-the-air coverage "won't get softer."

McEwan and the former WNBC staffer claimed that the station has let go many longtime, highly paid staffers while hiring younger people willing to work for less. O'Brien denied the charge, saying "We have the best of both worlds -- experienced talent that viewers embrace as well as (employees) who embrace change."

Former executive Al Primo (http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/840687/Al%20Primo.html?dataSet=1), who pioneered WABC's "Eyewitness News" format in 1968, however, is skeptical: "They should not lose sight of what made 'Eyewitness' successful, which was a lot of original reporting, a lot of people-to-people coverage, and the things that require reporters to get out and talk to the newsmakers themselves." Now, Primo groused, "they're going to send in some kid with a minicam."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117996698.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

How can ATSC be over an anlog feed? It's digital, by definition.
The issue is that the source is a NTSC analog channel. Dish, RCN, and Verizon for at least WTTG 5 are still taking the analog broadcast signal and converting to a digital SD signal. Dish is apparently still converting to getting the digital station signal in many markets. This complicates the closed caption data path. I expect Dish and other STBs are grabbing the digitalized line 21 signal (aka EIA-608) for the CC data. If they get the SD channel directly from the ATSC broadcast, they should be able to provide the superior EIA-708 format caption data (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIA-708). See it is not THAT complicated. :D

I hope the stations do another analog shutdown test again soon. I should have checked Verizon to see what was being shown in the basic 2-49 SD set for WFDC 14, WETA 26, WHUT 32, MPT. This is strictly curiosity on my part, because I only watch the HD version of the locals or in the Locals plus set. Verizon is getting the digital broadcast version of WHUT-DT 32 because it is in the Local Plus set and the digital channel is at QAM 78. Figured they did that to be ready for WHUT-DT to add sub-channels or go HD.

How can ATSC be over an anlog feed? It's digital, by definition.

They would have to downconvert the ATSC broadcast, and run it through a digital to analog converter then use the NTSC video and audio signals to put into their modulators. An easy way to do that would be to use a $40 gov'ment converter box...

BTW, when you downconvert and D to A the signal, the captions change back to 608... Sorry.

Also, BTW, the Baltimore broadcasters are putting together a DTV soft test for Dec. 17. It's supposed to be at 5:45 PM, IIRC.

I hope the stations do another analog shutdown test again soon.

There will be three more tests in the next 30 days.

Try the Phillips MANT940 antenna from Home Depot or Walmart. This is small ( about the size of a VHS tape) and is easy to setup on a railing. I am not sure if Baltimore has PBS but I am 15 miles from DC stations and get them well.

This is a simple question, probably, but I will admit to my ignorance on the issue. My mother-in-law lives in a brick rowhouse in the Dundalk MD area (21222). Currently, we are using an indoor amplified antenna for her OTA, but it is really spotty. She receives no PBS from either digital 22 or 67 and both 2 and 45 cut in and out.

I've been wanting to install a low maintenance outdoor antenna (I'm a little scared of dealing with her steep roof to install a larger one, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't allow me to pay for a pro to do the work.)

Does anyone familiar with the area know what I'd need to guarantee reception of the Baltimore locals (about 11 miles away) and what more I'd need to pull in DC (35-40 miles away)? It looks like I have about a 73 degree span between Baltimore and DC towers.

I'd check over in hardware, but I was hoping for some advice from someone with knowledge of the terrain.

I have a CM4228 on my rrof with a rotor right now and my plan is just to wait until the change in February and see whether I can still pick up channels 7, 9, 11, and 13 when they revert. I get them with my indoor antennae here in Laurel, so I'm hopeful that even thought the CM4228 is UHF only, it will get enough of a signal to keep me from having to replace it.

You should be just fine with your current 4228A. I am located in Northwest Missouri and our only VHF digital station is on channel 7 located in Kansas City. Even though 7 is not one of the 4228A's strongest gain channels, it works great! We are located 65+ from the X-mitter. Signal level is 57%, but it's solid. I had a bent up 4228A with a 5 element channel 7 yagi before I replaced it with a brand new 4228A and used it solo. My signal was only 59 to 62% with it. LONG LIVE OUR 4228A!

The CBS Evening News is in HD on WJZ. Let's see if they can keep it going this time.

Just out of curiosity, did CW Washington have any problems with their HD feed this evening?

CW changed satellite transponders today, and they were unable to actually get the right signal up on it, so they changed back to the original transponder at 7:53... I'm glad I stayed to make sure everything would work...

.

I also have a CM4228 and when I use the analog tuner on my TV it gets Ch 7 and Ch 9 pretty clearly. So I am hopeful that it will continue to provide all my channels after those two switch back to VHF.

Stilll not receiving the new HD channels (221,222,242). Sent Comcast an email to ask when they would be live, they stated they were on now and to call CSR. Called CSR and got the standard dumb - 'I don't think they are on until after the first of the year' Sent the email to a supervisor. Got a call back that they 'quessed they must be on' and they would send a tech to my house to fix my cable cards. Now I have to keep an incompetent tech from screwing thing up worse. I suspect I know more about cable cards that COMCAST having fought the war before with a TV and Tivo. COME ON FIOS.

Stilll not receiving the new HD channels (221,222,242). Sent Comcast an email to ask when they would be live, they stated they were on now and to call CSR. Called CSR and got the standard dumb - 'I don't think they are on until after the first of the year' Sent the email to a supervisor. Got a call back that they 'quessed they must be on' and they would send a tech to my house to fix my cable cards. Now I have to keep an incompetent tech from screwing thing up worse. I suspect I know more about cable cards that COMCAST having fought the war before with a TV and Tivo. COME ON FIOS.

Please do let us know what happens. Can't imagine what they could mean by "fixing" your cards, other than restaging them from the head end (which they can do remotely without a tech visit) or replacing them with newer versions.

Good luck.

I'm not receiving 221,222, or 242 either. Guess I need to call them as well.

I have reason to believe that WNVC-DT 24 has done some testing, I assume overnight with WUTB at some point. Anyone observe this?

- Trip

I'm in Arlington on Comcast and I'm not getting the new Fox HD Channels either, and I have an HD box. Is anyone getting them on the Mogo or DC systems?

For anyone watching the Pacquiao/DeLaHoya fight on Cox Cable in the Fairfax viewing area, is it showing up as standard definition and hot in HD like I paid for?!?

My Channels 213 and 214, Fox WBFF and WNUV are just small blocks (pixelated0 and are unwatchable on Comcast Annapolis. Anyone have a solution?

New HD channels in Anne Arundel County, MD

Changes effective Jan. 19, 2009.

220- Fox Business Network HD
230-Green TV HD
243-Toon Disney HD
247-Lifetime Movie Network HD
256-ESPNews HD
258-MGM HD
219-Biography HD

Also DOCSIS 3.0 is coming towards select markets in AACO. First communities should see 50/5 plan along with D2 22/4 plan by late December/early January.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21540919-New-HD-channels-in-Anne-Arundel-County-MD

If past history is any indication, should make its way to Baltimore.

From dcrtv.com:

WJLA news to go HD on Monday.

From dcrtv.com:

WJLA news to go HD on Monday.

Yippee!!

:DYippee!!


finally the day has come... :D

For anyone watching the Pacquiao/DeLaHoya fight on Cox Cable in the Fairfax viewing area, is it showing up as standard definition and hot in HD like I paid for?!?

I called them last night and ask if they have this fight in another HD channel and the response that I got is NO and they're only broadcasting this on Channel 501 and in SD.I'll give them a call again tomorrow to see if I can get a refund coz they're advertising this fight in HD.I suggest you do the same thing.

Anyone else having OTA problems with WJLA-DT tonight, or is it just me? No other D.C. channels are acting up, quite the contrary - they're all spot-on, but WJLA is unwatchable from up here in Elkridge. Very low signal strength.

From dcrtv.com:

WJLA news to go HD on Monday.
If this is true, then WJLA-DT will be the 2nd station in the DC market with HD locals news! Took long enough. With the reports of WTTG-DT and the Fox network upgrading the local news studios and equipment to HD, I expected WTTG-DT would be the next station in DC for HD news, but I guess not. With the budget cuts and gutting of the NBC network, it is a good question whether WRC-DT will even have much of a real news operation, SD or HD, by this time next year. From the industry news posted last spring, WMAR-DT 2 and WJZ-DT 13 in Baltimore should be getting close to going HD news in the next few months, if they have not been delayed by budget issues.

Speaking of WJLA-DT ABC 7, the FCC granted their post-transition maximized power application this past week. WJLA-DT is authorized to operate at 30 kW on VHF 7 after next February 17, rather than the 13.6 kW they were previously set for. Maybe Robert can fill us in on whether WJLA-DT will be flash cutting to 13.6 kW on February 17 with the increase to 30 kW coming later or whether WJLA-DT will start up at 30 kW right after the analog shutdown.

Lately on D* WJLA has been very very loud during commercials (or their HD content is very very quiet). No other channel has problems, but i'm constantly turning up/down on WJLA.

Anyone else see this?
-Mike

This past Friday WJZ not only had the CBS Evening News in HD BUT Entertainment Tonight in HD too! Will wonders ever cease?

OK WBAL, now its your turn to get the syndicated programs in HD and add Dolby Digital.
And how about WMAR, WJZ and WBAL going into HD newscasts??

Well, Robert had said over the years that WJLA was getting HD equipment, cameras here, studio equipment there. So it was a just a matter of time. News Channel 8 likely has most of the HD pieces in place too, but would need more support all of the parties involved to take on the costs of HD.

For anyone that wants to know which channels exist both in HD and not, here's a list for Montgomery County's FIOS lineup:


HD Analog Station name
503 3 CW — WDCW HD
504 4 NBC — WRC HD
505 5 FOX — WTTG HD
506 6 My WDCA HD
507 7 ABC — WJLA HD
509 9 CBS — WUSA HD
526 26 PBS — WETA HD
568 29 WGN America HD
550 50 USA HD
551 51 TNT HD
552 52 TBS HD
553 53 FX HD
570 70 ESPN HD
572 72 ESPNews HD
573 73 ESPNU HD
574 74 ESPN2 HD
576 76 Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD
583 83 Speed HD
585 85 Big Ten Network HD
587 87 NHL Network HD
588 88 NFL Network HD
589 89 NBA TV HD
590 90 Versus HD
600 100 CNN HD
602 102 CNBC HD+
617 117 Fox Business Network HD
618 118 Fox News HD
619 119 The Weather Channel HD
620 120 Discovery Channel HD
621 121 National Geographic Channel HD
622 122 Science Channel HD
628 128 History Channel HD
629 129 Bio HD
630 130 Animal Planet HD
639 139 TLC HD
640 140 Lifetime HD
641 141 Lifetime Movie Network HD
650 150 QVC HD
651 151 HSN HD
664 164 Food Network HD
665 165 HGTV HD
668 168 Planet Green HD
669 169 Wealth TV HD
670 170 Travel Channel HD
680 180 Sci-Fi Channel HD
681 181 A&E HD
682 182 Crime & Investigation Network HD
685 185 Bravo HD
699 199 ABC Family HD
740 240 Hallmark Channel HD
780 250 Disney Channel HD
781 251 Toon Disney HD
592 303 The Tennis Channel HD
593 304 Golf HD
597 317 World Fishing Network HD
598 318 MavTV HD
840 340 Starz HD
842 342 Starz Edge HD
845 345 Starz Kids & Family HD
847 347 Starz Comedy HD
850 350 Encore HD
865 365 Showtime HD
866 366 Showtime West HD
867 367 Showtime Showcase HD
868 368 Showtime Showcase West HD
869 369 Showtime 2 HD
870 370 Showtime 2 West HD
873 373 Showtime Extreme HD
874 374 Showtime Extreme West HD
885 385 TMC HD
886 386 TMC West HD
887 387 TMC Xtra HD
888 388 TMC Xtra West HD
899 400 HBO HD
901 401 HBO West HD
902 402 HBO 2 HD
903 403 HBO 2 West HD
904 404 HBO Signature HD
905 405 HBO Signature West HD
906 406 HBO Family HD
907 407 HBO Family West HD
908 408 HBO Comedy HD
909 409 HBO Comedy West HD
910 410 HBO Zone HD
911 411 HBO Zone West HD
912 412 HBO Latino HD
913 413 HBO Latino West HD
920 420 Cinemax HD
921 421 Cinemax West HD
922 422 More Max HD
923 423 More Max West HD
924 424 Action Max HD
925 425 Action Max West HD
926 426 Thriller Max HD
927 427 Thriller Max West HD
928 428 WMAX HD
929 429 At Max HD
930 430 Five Star Max HD
931 431 OuterMax HD


I wanted a list of what was in both formats so I could program my Tivo to only use the ones in HD. I want my Tivo to avoid recording anything from the non-HD channels. I'm told some folks prefer to use non-HD channels for some 'unimportant stuff' as a way to save disk space. I don't have the time to worry THAT much about it, and have a 750gb drive on there anyway.

Don't know if anyone else needs or wants it, but I thought I'd share.

Who would have guessed a few years ago that WJLA would step up second in this market? With Good Morning America, The View, Oprah, ABC News, WoF, Jeopardy, and ABC prime time all in HD, that's a major part of their broadcast day in HD.

From DCRTV:
7's News To Go HD Monday - 12/7 - DCRTV hears that Channel 7/WJLA will launch high-def local newscasts on Monday. Also, look for "a newly-enhanced set, lighting, graphics, and logo." Currently, only Channel 9/WUSA offers HD local news in the DC market.....

[b]
Station Location PreDT ERP(kW) PostDT ERP(kW) HAAT(m) Notes
WJLA-DT ABC 7 DC 39 646 7 13.6 235 maximized app pending for 30 kW
WUSA-DT CBS 9 DC 34 1000 9 12.6 235
WBAL-DT NBC 11 Baltimore 59 513 11 5 299
WWPX-DT ion 60 Martinsburg 12 23 12 23 314 Petition pending to move DTV operations to 51 in VA
WJZ-DT CBS 13 Baltimore 38 1000 13 28.8 295 To operate on STA basis on DT 13 (9.8kW) until 5/15/09.
WFDC-DT uni 14 DC 15 325 15 1000 227 CP granted for 1000 kW post-transition
WVPY-DT PBS 42 Front Royal 21 50 21 50 400 app filed in Oct 08 for 100 kW post-transition
WNVC-DT MHz 56 Fairfax 57 dark 24 160 221 Maximized app for 160 kW granted, off air until 02/18/09
WHAG-DT NBC 25 Hagerstown 55 0.9 26 575 376
WETA-DT PBS 26 DC 27 90 27 90 254 Petition pending to move to 51 for DTV operation at 674 kW
WFPT-DT PBS 62 Frederick 28 30 28 41.2 158 Maximized app for 41.2 kW granted
WMPB-DT PBS 67 Baltimore 29 14 29 42.6 309 Maximized app for 42.6 kW granted
WNVT-DT MHz 30 Goldvein 30 160 30 160 229
WHUT-DT PBS 32 DC 33 100 33 100 254 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WPXW-DT ion 66 Manass->DC 43 90 34 110 221 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WDCA-DT MyN 20 DC 35 500 35 500 227 maximized app pending for 950 kW
WTTG-DT Fox 5 DC 36 1000 36 1000 227
WMAR-DT ABC 2 Baltimore 52 613 38 1000 312
WJAL-DT ind 68 Hagerstown 16 6 39 105 372
WNUV-DT CW 54 Baltimore 40 845 40 845 373
WUTB-DT MyN 24 Catonsville 41 200 41 200 308 maximized app pending for 290 kW
WMPT-DT PBS 22 Annapolis 42 150 42 150 289 maximized app pending for 516 kW
WWPB-DT PBS 31 Hagerstown 44 209 44 209 359 maximized app pending for 1000 kW
WBFF-DT Fox 45 Baltimore 46 550 46 550 373
WRC-DT NBC 4 DC 48 813 48 813 242
WDCW-DT CW 50 DC 51 125 50 122 253 maximized app pending for 1000 kW

Digital Low Power Stations in DC and in the western edge of the DC market
WMDO Telef 47 DC 8 0.198 8 0.198 150 on the air in late summer 08.
W08EE WV PBS Martinsburg 8 0.3 8 0.3 281 on the air
WWTD ind 49 DC - - 14 0.1 179 CP granted Jan 08
WDDN Dayst 23 DC - - 21 1 213 CP granted Mar 07
WZDC Telem 25 DC - - 25 4.6 116 CP granted Oct 08 for digital flash cut post-transition
WIAV AsiaVis 58 DC - - 44 0.1 45 CP granted May 08
WAZW rlg 48 Winchester - - 46 12 78 CP granted Jan 07
W51CY CW 51 Hagerstown - - 51 15 379 Satellite TX for WDCW, tower located east of Hagerstown


W51CY CW 51 shutdown last December 7th due to interference to Comcast reception equipment of WDCW digital. Pissed me and my wife off, because we missed the finally to two of their shows last Fall.

WJLA news to go HD on Monday.
All that revenue from those extra commercials at the end of Jep!, local movies pre-empting ABC shows, news specials, and infomercial overload on the weekends is being put to good use! A safe bet WRC will be the last to switch.

All that revenue from those extra commercials at the end of Jep!, local movies pre-empting ABC shows, news specials, and infomercial overload on the weekends is being put to good use! A safe bet WRC will be the last to switch.

Well, they better get all the money they can because after Pushing Daisies is over in a few weeks, my time watching ABC is over. No NBA, no news, no Jeopardy...Nothing...You can thank the bean counters at Disney Corporate for that.

Maybe Robert can fill us in on whether WJLA-DT will be flash cutting to 13.6 kW on February 17 with the increase to 30 kW coming later or whether WJLA-DT will start up at 30 kW right after the analog shutdown.

This has not been decided. We are still developing the plan. Since we travel up the same pipe that WUSA does, we have to be on the same page.

Who would have guessed a few years ago that WJLA would step up second in this market? With Good Morning America, The View, Oprah, ABC News, WoF, Jeopardy, and ABC prime time all in HD, that's a major part of their broadcast day in HD.

Let me jump in here to manage expectations... Not all of the HD gear is ready to go today, but will be phased in over the next couple of weeks. I only say this to head off the old 'its not HD until its ALL in HD' complaints that normally get fired off here.

Please be patient and PLEASE tell us your thoughts.

Verizon Fios added NHL Network SD (87) and HD (587) today to the Washington Metro and Baltimore markets (and Richmond and other east coast markets). The Center Ice single HD channel, NHL game HD is active at channel 1474. The NBA HD channel is still listed as "coming soon" in the guide.

Verizon also added the start-up MLB Network SD on channel 86, currently showing old highlight or game programming. Scroll on the MLB SD channel states the official launch is at 6 PM on January 1, 2009 so it will likely be old highlight filler until then. MLB may not have started up an HD feed yet, but Verizon will add MLB Network HD.

This has not been decided. We are still developing the plan. Since we travel up the same pipe that WUSA does, we have to be on the same page.
If you can tell us, will WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT do any early testing of the digital flash cut conversion ahead of February 17? If you do shut down the analog broadcast and fire up the digital broadcast on VHF 7 for a short time, presumably very late at night, ahead of February 17, could you post an announcement here in advance? We will have to do re-scans afterwards, but it would be useful for some to find out if their current antenna setup will work for WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT on 7 & 9 ahead of time.

If you can tell us, will WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT do any early testing of the digital flash cut conversion ahead of February 17? If you do shut down the analog broadcast and fire up the digital broadcast on VHF 7 for a short time, presumably very late at night, ahead of February 17, could you post an announcement here in advance? We will have to do re-scans afterwards, but it would be useful for some to find out if their current antenna setup will work for WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT on 7 & 9 ahead of time.

I'll see what I can do.

Is WJLA debuting their HD newscast at noon or at 5pm?

UPDATE: WJLA in HD on its 12pm newscast.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/mbenz249/123.jpg

Well, they better get all the money they can because after Pushing Daisies is over in a few weeks
Substitute "Boston Legal" for "Pushing Daisies" for me. Reality rules at ABC, sadly even more so in 2009.

And it's good to see Robert back here posting, frustrations about WJLA are intended for higher ups with the last name of Allbritton.

Can any of the D.C. station personel (posting on this forum) tell me if viewers in the Cumberland Valley (Chambersburg, PA) are going to be receiving any D.C. stations after the transition? I know that the FCC moved us to the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York DMA a few years back, but the problem is, I don't get any of those stations via digital (except WGCB).

My setup (26' pole, CM3020, & CM pre-amp) only receives WMAR (very inconsistent), WBAL, & WNUV (when conditions are right) and WJZ (CBS), WWPB (MPT), WJAL (ind), & WWPX (iON) solidly. I'd really like to get FOX, ABC, & MyNetwork. My reception is 2-edge from either DMA.

I see where WDCA (MyNetwork) will be going to 950Kw, WMAR (ABC) to 1000Kw, WUTB (MyNetwork) to 310Kw, WBFF (FOX) to 550Kw, WDCW (CW) to 1000Kw, WNUV (CW) to 845 Kw, and who knows what will happen when 7, 9, 11, & 13 go back to VHF-HI.

Will W51CY be turned back ON?

Can any of the D.C. station personel (posting on this forum) tell me if viewers in the Cumberland Valley (Chambersburg, PA) are going to be receiving any D.C. stations after the transition? I know that the FCC moved us to the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York DMA a few years back, but the problem is, I don't get any of those stations via digital (except WGCB).

My setup (26' pole, CM3020, & CM pre-amp) only receives WMAR (very inconsistent), WBAL, & WNUV (when conditions are right) and WJZ (CBS), WWPB (MPT), WJAL (ind), & WWPX (iON) solidly. I'd really like to get FOX, ABC, & MyNetwork. My reception is 2-edge from either DMA.

I see where WDCA (MyNetwork) will be going to 950Kw, WMAR (ABC) to 1000Kw, WUTB (MyNetwork) to 310Kw, WBFF (FOX) to 550Kw, WDCW (CW) to 1000Kw, WNUV (CW) to 845 Kw, and who knows what will happen when 7, 9, 11, & 13 go back to VHF-HI.
Will W51CY be turned back ON?
Some of the stations you list have filed maximized power applications, but the FCC has not granted - or denied - them yet: WDCA-DT (at 500 kW on 35), WUTB-DT (at 200 kW on 41), WDCW-DT (to be at 122 kW on 50). So unless the FCC acts soon and the stations are ready to operate at increased power at the transition, don't expect them to increase on Feb. 18. WNUV-DT 54 and WBFF-DT 45 are operating at their post-transition power, so unless you have interference from an analog station for those two, you will not get better reception for those two after February 17.

I expect WBAL-DT 11 at only 5 kW on VHF 11 will be the leading problem station to get among the big four + PBS in the 2 cities after the transition. If you currently get WJZ-DT 13, you should get WMAR-DT 2 after Feb 17 as WMAR is taking over WJZ's UHF 38 antenna & 1000 kW power.

At your deep fringe range, you should consider getting a dedicated / better UHF antenna. If your CM pre-amp is the 7777, you could add a Antennas Direct XG-91 UHF antenna and keep the CM3020 for VHF reception. Look at the UHF gain chart for H (CM 3018, smaller sister to the 3020) versus T (XG91) at http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html. Around 4 dB more for the XG-91 on average. The CM4228 is better for lower UHF according to the computer model, but the CM4228 is heavy with a wind load issue that might overload your mast.

As for W51CY analog, I did not find a temporary shut down filing for going off the air, but I may have missed it. You should contact or call the WDCW engineering dept for answers on their plans for the digital flash cut of W51CY.

Dr. Phil was in also in HD on WJZ.

If you can tell us, will WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT do any early testing of the digital flash cut conversion ahead of February 17? If you do shut down the analog broadcast and fire up the digital broadcast on VHF 7 for a short time, presumably very late at night, ahead of February 17, could you post an announcement here in advance? We will have to do re-scans afterwards, but it would be useful for some to find out if their current antenna setup will work for WJLA-DT and WUSA-DT on 7 & 9 ahead of time.

So WJLA is going back to VHF 7 after the analog shutoff? What other stations are going back to VHF?
I think some people will be in for a surprise if they have a UHF only antenna.

I'll need to keep a watch for if you post a time you will be testing. I'll need to make sure my girlfriend can receive WJLA on VHF when the analogs are shutdown. She would be really pissed if she missed her ABC soaps and ABC primetime shows. I only use OTA as a backup, with FIOS as my primary source. But my girlfriend is strictly OTA and since getting her a couple of TiVoHD boxes earlier this year, she went all digital. I have to make sure nothing gets screwed up with her reception in February.

I have the 0264DSB pre-amp with the UHF/VHF segments decoupled. 100' RG-6 Quad downlead to the central distribution area in the garage. The house is wired with RG-6 Quad and fed by a 25dB DA. I've been trying to get a good day to relocate the CM3020 to the top of the 40' tower I've installed.

Caught part of the 5pm newscast and thought it looked good over D* And the logo is off to the far right, nice and simple. No crazy WUSA animation!

Does anyone know which tier Comcast put Versus HD on? Since the split a week ago I'm getting Golf HD, but not Versus, despite getting Versus in SD. Since Versus took the spot of Mojo, and I didn't get Mojo, I'm not too hopeful about Versus. I'm going to miss WEC in HD...

Caught part of the 5pm newscast and thought it looked good over D* And the logo is off to the far right, nice and simple. No crazy WUSA animation!

I caught the beginning of the 5 PM newscast and while it looked nice, the logo was precariously close to the right-hand margin on my 42" 720p Panasonic Plasma.

WJLA News in HD: What, still 4x3 SD weather map and live shots? No HD video in the field or HD sports highlights?

Just kidding, Robert. Happy you all have made the switch. The only thing I noticed is the set doesn't seem as well lit/bright as WUSA. Otherwise looks great.

WJLA News in HD: What, still 4x3 SD weather map and live shots? No HD video in the field or HD sports highlights?

Just kidding, Robert. Happy you all have made the switch. The only thing I noticed is the set doesn't seem as well lit/bright as WUSA. Otherwise looks great.

it will be a work in progress for the next couple of weeks.

So WJLA is going back to VHF 7 after the analog shutoff? What other stations are going back to VHF?
I think some people will be in for a surprise if they have a UHF only antenna.
Yes, some people will be in for a surprise on February 18 depending on the UHF antenna they have and the distance they are from DC and Baltimore. I posted a summary of the current and future digital broadcast channels for the DC and Baltimore market stations last weekend at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15183802#post15183802.

Warren Electronics now has the CM 4228HD in stock.

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4228HD.htm

Does anyone know which tier Comcast put Versus HD on? Since the split a week ago I'm getting Golf HD, but not Versus, despite getting Versus in SD. Since Versus took the spot of Mojo, and I didn't get Mojo, I'm not too hopeful about Versus. I'm going to miss WEC in HD...

I am getting Versus in HD. I have no sports pack on my Comcast setup. The only thing I have is digital with HD.

If you were getting Versus before you should still be getting it.

Checked out the 11:00 news on WJLA ... looks great, but I second that the logo is too far to the right. It's cut off on my CRT-based HDTV. Not the end of the world by any means, especially since I live in the Baltimore metro and *should* be watching WBFF right now - lol :)

Thanks WJLA ... WUSA's news is just too ... shall we say ... busy?

11pm newscast looks great. The bug is off to the side which is nice, I'm going to guess that its position will be adjusted for overscan and brought a little closer to the center.

Looks really good.

Yes, some people will be in for a surprise on February 18 depending on the UHF antenna they have and the distance they are from DC and Baltimore. I posted a summary of the current and future digital broadcast channels for the DC and Baltimore market stations last weekend at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15183802#post15183802.

Thanks!

The 1:35A.M. rerun of Entertainment Tonight is also in HD on WJZ.

Attached is a snapshot from silicondust.com of WJLA's news last evening.

EDIT: Attaching the image seems to have shrunk it. Go here for the full-resolution capture:
http://img.lineupui.silicondust.com/snapshots/39/snapshot_6530739.jpg

Yeap, that Looks HD to me.

Looks like upconverted SD with sidebars to me. Looks like thier sports segment isn't in HD.

I'll try to take a look at the newscast today if I can get a signal. My Silver Sensor is damaged.

It appears this morning, Fox has added the Speed Channel, Fox News and FX all in HD. More More More.

Manassas City does not have those channels. It should if PWC gets them right? When can i expect them in Manassas?

Looks like upconverted SD with sidebars to me. Looks like thier sports segment isn't in HD.

I'll try to take a look at the newscast today if I can get a signal. My Silver Sensor is damaged.

One of two things... It may have been a pre-recorded clip or pre-pro or there was an HD issue which had us dump the camera to SD. All of the studio equipment is HD. Weather will be in HD soon.

Does WJLA plan on having Live 16:9 SD field shots from reporters as WUSA or be a first with 16:9 in HD?

Does WJLA plan on having Live 16:9 SD field shots from reporters as WUSA or be a first with 16:9 in HD?

We are working to full HD on any source that belongs to us....live shots, helicopters, bureaus and skycams.

Checked out the 11:00 news on WJLA ... looks great, but I second that the logo is too far to the right. It's cut off on my CRT-based HDTV. Not the end of the world by any means, especially since I live in the Baltimore metro and *should* be watching WBFF right now - lol :)

Thanks WJLA ... WUSA's news is just too ... shall we say ... busy?

Well, you could watch WBFF at 10, and WJLA at 11. That would work!

.

WUSA seems to have made no progress lately getting their field shots, highlights, etc... in HD. It looks like WJLA will be passing them soon. And in a few months, no switching back and forth on Jeopardy! (end credits in SD, despite no Oprah promos v/o) and Wheel. Please no animated logo graphics like WUSA and WTTG on the news.

I do agree with some previous posters that the news set does indeed look a bit dim for HD.

Also something which I've noticed, the set of 2 black 4:3 tv monitors on each side of the anchors desk does make the whole set in HD look a little awkward, hopefully in the future they would be changed over to flat panels. :)

WJLA news looks good (yes, it needs a little more light). Will be cool to see HD from the helicopter.

11pm newscast looks great. The bug is off to the side which is nice, I'm going to guess that its position will be adjusted for overscan and brought a little closer to the center.

Overscan?! :eek: Just how is "overscan" defined with digital imagers and displays that most of us have now? Does your computer monitor perform overscan any more? Of course not!

The original rationale for overscan was to crop the garbage edge that CRTs tended to produce. I'm content to watch the entire 1080x1920 pixel map, thank you :)

Entertainment Tonight is now being shown in HD on WUSA. Probably goes for The Insider too.

Unfortunately, overscan is still an issue, since many flat panel displays, especially plasma, don't necessarily show the entire 1920x1080 field with their factory settings. This is quite evident on my 42" Panasonic, just from viewing the HDNet test pattern. I know it can be adjusted, but I'm not adventurous enough to start poking around in hidden service menus, where I could potentially screw things up pretty good :)

Some of us still have CRTs.:)

Some of us still have CRTs.:)

Mutiple, HD capable, CRTs :D

Mutiple, HD capable, CRTs :D
Well, not multiple, but definitely HD capable! :)

One big, chunky, manly, HD capable CRT. (And one small, wimpy LCD.);)

Yep, Overscan is still part of the scene. I don't like it either, but I acknowledge its existence and still expect the bug to be moved over a bit more from the edge.

I just hope that they don't put it in a 4:3 safe area. I hate that the networks have started to do that.

For anyone that wants to know which channels exist both in HD and not, here's a list for Montgomery County's FIOS lineup:

Don't know if anyone else needs or wants it, but I thought I'd share.

Thanks for posting the list. It helped me clean up my first post listing.

If anyone else can "proofread" my initial post to see if my ch listings are correct, I would appreciate it. The list was easy keep accurate when there was only 5 or 6 HD channels in existence. Today its a bit harder. :D

MOJO needs to be removed from the chart.

Lately on D* WJLA has been very very loud during commercials (or their HD content is very very quiet). No other channel has problems, but i'm constantly turning up/down on WJLA.

Anyone else see this?
-MikeWJLA has been quite unbearable on commercials on Comcast for quite a number of weeks. They HD content is not very quiet compared with everyone else - I had that at the same level as other stations while I either need to mute or turn the commercials a whole bunch. The other stations are much more bearable.

I agree. Ever since they restored DD 5.1 WJLA is very loud relative to other channels.

Does anyone have a good contact for WHUT? I have a Tivo HD that just upgraded to the V11 software, and now it thinks I have 2 WHUT channels, the first WHUTDT where I get channel information and no signal, the second WHUT-DT where I get the signal, but no channel information. My guess is sending out the channel identifier as WHUT-DT instead of WHUTDT.

After a quick look at other channels the convention seems to be that the channels should be called ****DT without the dash. I had a similar issue with WNVC which I couldn't get tivo to resolve and is currently not a issue since they are off the air.

Today, NBC's O&O in Philadelphia, WCAU, ran its first HD news broadcast. WRC and NBC's affiliate in Charlotte, NC, are now the only two NBC affiliates in the top 25 DMAs without HD news.

Three NBC O&Os are still not in HD: WRC, KNSD in San Diego, and WVIT in Connecticut (but the latter was up for sale until recently, so plans are probably just getting underway). With WNBC having finished its restructuring into a "content center" and WRC allegedly the next to go through a similar transformation, hopefully we'll get word about HD soon.

WJLA has been quite unbearable on commercials on Comcast for quite a number of weeks. They HD content is not very quiet compared with everyone else - I had that at the same level as other stations while I either need to mute or turn the commercials a whole bunch. The other stations are much more bearable.

Ok, so it's both D* and Comcast. Robert, care to comment on the WJLA audio levels?

-Mike

One big, chunky, manly, HD capable CRT. (And one small, wimpy LCD.);)
would you trade it for a nice 52" inch plasma?

would you trade it for a nice 52" inch plasma?

I don't know about Marcus, but the only way my HD CRT is ever leaving me is when either it or I die. I'm hoping the latter happens first so I never ever have to put an LCD in the living room ... hate those things.

edit to stay on-topic ... we watched WJLA tonight and didn't notice much, if any, of a volume issue. It's still nowhere near as far off as WJZ. Aren't there specifications and standards in place by now so all broadcasters can set this up to roughly the same point?

would you trade it for a nice 52" inch plasma?

No. (For one thing I'd be losing 3"...)

I don't know about Marcus, but the only way my HD CRT is ever leaving me is when either it or I die. I'm hoping the latter happens first so I never ever have to put an LCD in the living room ... hate those things.

edit to stay on-topic ... we watched WJLA tonight and didn't notice much, if any, of a volume issue. It's still nowhere near as far off as WJZ. Aren't there specifications and standards in place by now so all broadcasters can set this up to roughly the same point?

Over a period of 25 years, I owned 3 CRT projectors. My OPTOMA HD81-LV is much much better than the best one. Fact, not fancy. I am very picky.

I remember back in 2002 I was going to spend $4k on a Sony 34" CRT. Luckily my wife gave me a hard time, so I had to do research to build up my case. In that time I found 42" plasmas which while a bit more expensive, was only 65lbs vs the 206lbs for the CRT. Considering that I had to lift the thing up 6 feet into a hole in the wall. Plus they were just as wide as the hole, meaning I would have a very hard time accessing the jacks on the back when needed with that large CRT.

Still the PQ on the CRTs are excellent. Still more vivid than any other of the mediums.

I remember back in 2002 I was going to spend $4k on a Sony 34" CRT. Luckily my wife gave me a hard time, so I had to do research to build up my case. In that time I found 42" plasmas which while a bit more expensive, was only 65lbs vs the 206lbs for the CRT. Considering that I had to lift the think up 6 feet into a hole in the wall. Plus they were just as wide as the hole, meaning I would have a very hard time accessing the jacks on the back when needed with that large CRT.

Still the PQ on the CRTs are excellent. Still more vivid than any other of the mediums.
If you'd have waited three years, you could have gotten the Sony 34" CRT for under 1500. That's what I did. :)

And I totally agree, the CRT looks a lot nicer than any of my friends' HDTVs. Their TVs are definitely a lot bigger than mine, but they usually have theirs in too small of a room. Mine wins the PQ contest, hands down. Plus the 34" Sony works perfectly in my living room.

Greg,

I'm in Davidsonville if you care to see a really beautiful display. I would select my Optoma HD81-LV front projector ahead of any CRT. I also now own a Sony 32" LCD that I paid 4K for 5 years ago. After 4 years looking for a display that came close to my ProFeel, I selected the KDL 32" XBR 2 piece. Picture is unbelievable butthe tune only acomodates QAM64 not 256 which is what everyone uses. I just bought a Dell 30" LCD display for $2K. It puts everything else to shame. I run it at 1920x1200. THe CRT was gorgeous for half a century. I owned SONY Profeels and XBR's since the early '80's and loved them but they can not compare to today's state of the art monitors.

Comcast Speeding Up Internet In Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore (CMCSA)

Dan Frommer | December 11, 2008 12:00 PM

More Comcast (CMCSA) markets are getting the cable company's fastest Internet offerings: Comcast says today it's upgrading its Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Fort Wayne, Ind. markets to so-called "DOCSIS 3.0" before the end of the year.

What's this mean? Subscribers will be able to purchase Internet service as fast as 50 Mbps download speed -- which means downloading at up to 6.25 megabytes per second, about six times faster than typical cable modem speeds. (It'll take some time to roll out in each market. But Comcast is getting to its goal of building out 20% of its network with the faster service by the end of the year.)

What's the point? As phone companies like Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) go after Comcast's customers with fast, fiber-based Internet offerings, Comcast needs to keep up. This should help.

And the speed increases will make streaming HD content from Comcast's new video rivals -- Hulu, Apple's (AAPL) iTunes, Netflix (NFLX), etc. -- a much better experience. And it'll help out content delivery networks like Akamai Technologies (AKAM), which has complained that most Americans don't have fast enough Internet service available for HD video streaming.

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/comcast-speeding-up-internet

Comcast To Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps High-Speed Internet Service in Baltimore

Comcast Will Introduce Two New, Faster Speed Tier Options and Will Double Speeds for Most Existing Customers For No Additional Cost

Baltimore, MD - December 11, 2008

Comcast, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in the Baltimore market. With wideband, Comcast will introduce a new echelon of Internet speed tiers, which will redefine the customer experience online and create a platform for Internet innovation in the years ahead.

In December, Comcast will begin to roll out the new services to residential homes and businesses throughout the communities it serves in the Baltimore market, including areas in Anne Arundel County, City of Annapolis and Howard County, with the remainder of the market expected to be completed by the first half of 2009.

With wideband, Comcast will offer among the fastest speeds available today, including the Extreme 50 tier with download speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Wideband will also enable Comcast to double speeds for the majority of existing high-speed Internet customers at no additional cost.

“We are pleased to be rolling out this next generation service to our customers, which will dramatically enhance their online experience,” said Fred Graffam, senior vice president of Comcast’s Beltway Region. “This technology, combined with our advanced fiber optic network, will enable us to continue to offer our customers even faster speeds and an entirely new phase of Internet innovation.”

As part of the wideband deployment, Comcast will launch two new premium speed tiers to its residential and business class customers. Both new services are ideal for households or businesses simultaneously using several computers or Internet-connected devices. They also will appeal to those who simply want some of the fastest speeds available today:

New Residential Tiers

Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month.*
Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month.*
With Extreme 50, Comcast customers will be able to download a high-def movie (6 GB) in about 16 minutes, a standard-def movie (2 GB) in about 5 minutes and a standard-def TV show (300 MB) in a matter of seconds. Customers with Extreme 50 also will be able to download digital photos, songs and games faster than ever.

In addition to the new speed tiers, Comcast also is increasing speeds for most of its existing customers.

Performance tier customers will benefit from doubled downstream and upstream speeds, offering up to 12 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively.
Performance Plus customers will be upgraded to Comcast’s Blast! tier, which will double their download speeds to up to 16 Mbps and provide up to 2 Mbps of upload speed.
Plus, with PowerBoost® technology, customers are able to enjoy even faster speeds to download and upload files such as videos, games, music and photos.

New Business Class Tiers

Business customers will benefit from wideband with increased efficiency and productivity. Customers can sign up for the Deluxe 50 Mbps / 10 Mbps tier for $189.95/month, which includes a full suite of features and support. As part of their service, Comcast Business Class customers receive Microsoft Communication Services, providing corporate-class e-mail, calendaring and document sharing, as well as additional benefits such as firewall protection, static IP addresses, multiple e-mail addresses and business class 24/7 customer support. Existing business class customers also will receive complimentary speed increases—speeds on the Starter tier will be doubled to up to 12 Mbps / 2 Mbps and a new Premium Tier also will be introduced, offering speeds up to 22 Mbps / 5 Mbps for only $99.95/month.

To find out when wideband will be available customers can visit www.comcast.com/fastestfast or call
1-800-Comcast.

*Pricing for residential customers and requires subscription to Comcast Cable service.

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=829

My two cents on WJLA HD news, since they want comments:

1-- Overscan issues are fine. The logo is right at the edge of my cheap 19" HDTV. That TV has some serious overscan issues since it is 16:10 and thus has to lose a lot of the left and right edges to fill the screen without distortion (and it still cuts some of the top and bottom--I never see VBI artifacts)

2-- Set, colors, graphics are all great. It looks more like the HD newscasts I've seen in bigger cities.

Overall I'm satisfied. I think they've done a great job--definitely better than WUSA, which lost me when they started the distracting animations and such.

Greg,

I'm in Davidsonville if you care to see a really beautiful display. I would select my Optoma HD81-LV front projector ahead of any CRT. I also now own a Sony 32" LCD that I paid 4K for 5 years ago. After 4 years looking for a display that came close to my ProFeel, I selected the KDL 32" XBR 2 piece. Picture is unbelievable butthe tune only acomodates QAM64 not 256 which is what everyone uses. I just bought a Dell 30" LCD display for $2K. It puts everything else to shame. I run it at 1920x1200. THe CRT was gorgeous for half a century. I owned SONY Profeels and XBR's since the early '80's and loved them but they can not compare to today's state of the art monitors.
looks like i'll stay with my rca, its fed thru a lg3510 and the rca has been isf calibrated so it looks pretty good to these old tired eyes.

If you'd have waited three years, you could have gotten the Sony 34" CRT for under 1500. That's what I did. :)

And I totally agree, the CRT looks a lot nicer than any of my friends' HDTVs. Their TVs are definitely a lot bigger than mine, but they usually have theirs in too small of a room. Mine wins the PQ contest, hands down. Plus the 34" Sony works perfectly in my living room.Yeah, I remember the following years watching that TV drop rapidly in price. I think that it was expensive at first because back then having an integrated ATSC tuner was a big deal. Not sure if it had two?

I will say about three years later my friends dad ended up getting the same (but newer model) plasma. Mine: $3850 His: $1300.

I rationalized out the 3 years of good use that I had because .... well that's all I had...

Comcast To Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps High-Speed Internet Service in Baltimore

Comcast Will Introduce Two New, Faster Speed Tier Options and Will Double Speeds for Most Existing Customers For No Additional Cost

Baltimore, MD - December 11, 2008

Comcast, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in the Baltimore market. With wideband, Comcast will introduce a new echelon of Internet speed tiers, which will redefine the customer experience online and create a platform for Internet innovation in the years ahead.

In December, Comcast will begin to roll out the new services to residential homes and businesses throughout the communities it serves in the Baltimore market, including areas in Anne Arundel County, City of Annapolis and Howard County, with the remainder of the market expected to be completed by the first half of 2009.

With wideband, Comcast will offer among the fastest speeds available today, including the Extreme 50 tier with download speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Wideband will also enable Comcast to double speeds for the majority of existing high-speed Internet customers at no additional cost.

“We are pleased to be rolling out this next generation service to our customers, which will dramatically enhance their online experience,” said Fred Graffam, senior vice president of Comcast’s Beltway Region. “This technology, combined with our advanced fiber optic network, will enable us to continue to offer our customers even faster speeds and an entirely new phase of Internet innovation.”

As part of the wideband deployment, Comcast will launch two new premium speed tiers to its residential and business class customers. Both new services are ideal for households or businesses simultaneously using several computers or Internet-connected devices. They also will appeal to those who simply want some of the fastest speeds available today:

New Residential Tiers

Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month.*
Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month.*
With Extreme 50, Comcast customers will be able to download a high-def movie (6 GB) in about 16 minutes, a standard-def movie (2 GB) in about 5 minutes and a standard-def TV show (300 MB) in a matter of seconds. Customers with Extreme 50 also will be able to download digital photos, songs and games faster than ever.

In addition to the new speed tiers, Comcast also is increasing speeds for most of its existing customers.

Performance tier customers will benefit from doubled downstream and upstream speeds, offering up to 12 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively.
Performance Plus customers will be upgraded to Comcast’s Blast! tier, which will double their download speeds to up to 16 Mbps and provide up to 2 Mbps of upload speed.
Plus, with PowerBoost® technology, customers are able to enjoy even faster speeds to download and upload files such as videos, games, music and photos.

New Business Class Tiers

Business customers will benefit from wideband with increased efficiency and productivity. Customers can sign up for the Deluxe 50 Mbps / 10 Mbps tier for $189.95/month, which includes a full suite of features and support. As part of their service, Comcast Business Class customers receive Microsoft Communication Services, providing corporate-class e-mail, calendaring and document sharing, as well as additional benefits such as firewall protection, static IP addresses, multiple e-mail addresses and business class 24/7 customer support. Existing business class customers also will receive complimentary speed increases—speeds on the Starter tier will be doubled to up to 12 Mbps / 2 Mbps and a new Premium Tier also will be introduced, offering speeds up to 22 Mbps / 5 Mbps for only $99.95/month.

To find out when wideband will be available customers can visit www.comcast.com/fastestfast or call
1-800-Comcast.

*Pricing for residential customers and requires subscription to Comcast Cable service.

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=829

No mention of the 250gb download cap in that press release.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154081/comcast_cranks_up_bandwidth_speed_caps_limit_the_wow_factor. html
Called “wideband” by Comcast, but officially known as DOCSIS 3.0, the high-speed service seems like a bandwidth hog’s dream. That is, until you realize that Comcast’s 250GB monthly download cap remains in place. Keep to the cap, however, and the benefits are obvious. Extreme 50 customers should be able to download a high-def movie (6 GB) in about 16 minutes, Comcast says.

[QUOTE=Marcus Carr;15273150]Comcast To Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps High-Speed Internet Service in Baltimore

I guess that means we can reach our 250GB limit that much faster and get the high-speed service cancelled.

Any Loudoun Co. Comcast customers have F/X HD, Fox News HD or Speed HD yet? They are listed on the Comcast channel lineup, but they haven't appeared on my Tivo HD yet (channels 221, 222 and 242, respectively).

Yeah, I remember the following years watching that TV drop rapidly in price. I think that it was expensive at first because back then having an integrated ATSC tuner was a big deal. Not sure if it had two?

I will say about three years later my friends dad ended up getting the same (but newer model) plasma. Mine: $3850 His: $1300.

I rationalized out the 3 years of good use that I had because .... well that's all I had...
My KV-34HS420 has zero ATSC tuners. Pretty sure it's the last Sony CRT to not include one. I think it was succeeded by the XBR970, which did include an ATSC tuner.

"Comcast To Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps High-Speed Internet Service in Baltimore"

Still will not get me to ever go back to Comcast.

Entertainment Tonight is now being shown in HD on WUSA. Probably goes for The Insider too.

Yep.

While flipping through the channels last night, I could've sworn I saw that WJLA's logo had been moved into the 4:3 safe area.

While flipping through the channels last night, I could've sworn I saw that WJLA's logo had been moved into the 4:3 safe area.


It was, I noticed the same thing. I guess all the talk about over scan made them move it. :)

RCN in D.C. finally added WMPT-DT to the line-up yesterday. This is probably old news to most of you, but MPT "HD" is a complete joke. Despite the fact that they produce the program, Motorweek was presented windowboxed. And while Sesame Street was listed in the guide this morning as being in HD, it was 4:3 SD on WMPT-DT. The only program in true HD that I've seen so far is NewsHour.

While flipping through the channels last night, I could've sworn I saw that WJLA's logo had been moved into the 4:3 safe area.
Well, my CECBs are set to 4:3 crop, so I never saw the logo until now. :)

It was, I noticed the same thing. I guess all the talk about over scan made them move it. :)


HA! Nice try.

It was moved to better line up with the SD branding for now. Just for now. :)

Comcast To Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps High-Speed Internet Service in Baltimore

I guess that means we can reach our 250GB limit that much faster and get the high-speed service cancelled.

At that speed you will hit the Comcast 250GB cap in about 12 hours.

Yet another reason why I switched to FIOS.

Does anyone have a good contact for WHUT? I have a Tivo HD that just upgraded to the V11 software, and now it thinks I have 2 WHUT channels, the first WHUTDT where I get channel information and no signal, the second WHUT-DT where I get the signal, but no channel information. My guess is sending out the channel identifier as WHUT-DT instead of WHUTDT.Not it.

The identifiers that you see without a dash come from the guide data (from Tribune, via TiVo). They override anything provided by PSIP. The "WHUT-DT" is from PSIP, and you're seeing it because there's no guide data for that channel. But neither identifier is the problem.

It could be that WHUT-DT is identifying itself as 33-1 in its PSIP, when it should be 32-1. (Is that what you're seeing?) ISTR something like that happening earlier.

Me, I have only one 32-1, on which I receive nothing, so I don't know. You could try scanning, and/or rebooting.

On an unrelated note, I'm watching WJLA news in HD for the first time right now (just found out about it), and it's flickering constantly. I can't watch much more of this.

Any Loudoun Co. Comcast customers have F/X HD, Fox News HD or Speed HD yet? They are listed on the Comcast channel lineup, but they haven't appeared on my Tivo HD yet (channels 221, 222 and 242, respectively).

still waiting in Manassas as well for those channels

With Extreme 50, Comcast customers will be able to download a high-def movie (6 GB) in about 16 minutes, a standard-def movie (2 GB) in about 5 minutes and a standard-def TV show (300 MB) in a matter of seconds.
That's all marketing speak that has little to do with reality. Everyone knows that the tier you pay for and real download speeds don't match many times. It's very unlikely you'll download a 2GB file in 5 min at 5PM.

I'd like to congradulate all of us who have helped make the Wash DC metro are the number one market for HD penetration!

Nielsen: HDTV Penetration Doubles
At the end of last year, HDTV penetration was 13.5 percent

Dec 11, 2008

-By Katy Bachman

High definition TV penetration has nearly doubled from a year ago, according to Nielsen data released Thursday (Dec. 11). As of Nov. 30, HDTV penetration reached 23.2 percent of all U.S. households, up from 12.8 percent a year ago. At the end of last year, HDTV penetration was 13.5 percent.

Among the 18 largest local markets where Nielsen measures TV audiences using local people meters, Washington, D.C. had the highest HDTV penetration at 31.1 percent, followed by Boston (30.5 percent), New York (30.2 percent), Seattle-Tacoma (29.8 percent) and Philadelphia (29.1 percent).

Detroit had the lowest HDTV penetration at 20.9 percent. Other markets falling below the national average were Minneapolis-St. Paul (21.6 percent) and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (21.4 percent).

Nielsen attributed the increased penetration to a number of factors, including the lower prices for HDTV sets and the increased availability of programming in high definition, as well as the impending transition to DTV broadcast on Feb. 17.

"With nearly a quarter of homes equipped with high definition televisions, the demand for high definition content will only increase," said Steve McGowan, senior vp of client research initiatives for Nielsen.

Certain genres are more popular in HDTV homes than others, with sports events and sports commentary having the highest index of viewing. Homes with HDTV watch 54 percent more sports than non-capable HDTV households.

Other popular HDTV genres include political content, award ceremonies and situation comedy, indexing at 125, 110, and 100, respectively.

We have more deeply penetrated the HD adoption rates than any other city. That should satisfy even the most reluctant of our neighbors.

Also congradulations to Katy Bachman for using both Penetration and Double in her article's title, I'm sure that will lead to many hilarious search engine mishaps. ;)

I noticed today that wjla was broadcasting analog on channel 49 as well as 7. Earlier messages noted that it was in their plans to maintain a low power station on channel 49 after the transition. It looks like it is reality!

That's all marketing speak that has little to do with reality. Everyone knows that the tier you pay for and real download speeds don't match many times. It's very unlikely you'll download a 2GB file in 5 min at 5PM.

That's why FIOS is better. Anytime of day, any day of the week I will always hit 50mbs with my FIOS connection.

That's all marketing speak that has little to do with reality. Everyone knows that the tier you pay for and real download speeds don't match many times. It's very unlikely you'll download a 2GB file in 5 min at 5PM.

You mean 10pm. At 5pm everyone in the Wash-Metro area is either still at work or trapped in traffic somewhere. ;)

I noticed today that wjla was broadcasting analog on channel 49 as well as 7. Earlier messages noted that it was in their plans to maintain a low power station on channel 49 after the transition. It looks like it is reality!
That would be the low power station WWTD-LP 49 which was broadcasting the WUFO "network" until last August. Albritton, owners of WJLA, leased WWTD-LP to broadcast a analog simulcast of WJLA. I think they started the WJLA simulcast a few weeks ago. Don't know how long past the transition they plan to keep the WJLA analog broadcast on WWTD-LP. I suspect Albritton will find that it won't be that worthwhile because once people get the converter boxes to watch the other major networks including WJLA-DT, why bother watching the analog version on WWTD-LP?

That's why FIOS is better. Anytime of day, any day of the week I will always hit 50mbs with my FIOS connection.

I'm looking to go fios in early 2009. Is that a special tier or is that the standard package?

Sometime yesterday we in Silver Spring started receiving SciFiHD on RCN. Also, we seem to have CNBC HD, too. I don't know how long we've had that one, though.

That would be the low power station WWTD-LP 49 which was broadcasting the WUFO "network" until last August. Albritton, owners of WJLA, leased WWTD-LP to broadcast a analog simulcast of WJLA. I think they started the WJLA simulcast a few weeks ago. Don't know how long past the transition they plan to keep the WJLA analog broadcast on WWTD-LP. I suspect Albritton will find that it won't be that worthwhile because once people get the converter boxes to watch the other major networks including WJLA-DT, why bother watching the analog version on WWTD-LP?
They started including it in their station IDs a few weeks ago, but I've been checking and I never saw a signal there before Potatoehead's post. This has been a hectic week so I can't remember when I last checked but I don't think it's been on more than a week.

I think it's pointless, myself, because the people most likely to need the service are probably also the ones least likey to have an antenna that can receive it.

Btw, do you know what happened with the TV Nightlight legislation? Did anything actually pass or did it die?

Not it.

The identifiers that you see without a dash come from the guide data (from Tribune, via TiVo). They override anything provided by PSIP. The "WHUT-DT" is from PSIP, and you're seeing it because there's no guide data for that channel. But neither identifier is the problem.

It could be that WHUT-DT is identifying itself as 33-1 in its PSIP, when it should be 32-1. (Is that what you're seeing?) ISTR something like that happening earlier.

Me, I have only one 32-1, on which I receive nothing, so I don't know. You could try scanning, and/or rebooting.
This is TiVo’s problem, not the station’s.

TiVo provides listings for channels in its database only, not for scanned channels. Scanning allows you to tune channels not in the database, but unless you notify TiVo to add the channel to its database, you will never get program listings for those channels. Although TiVo does display PSIP station IDs for scanned channels if it finds them, it does not correlate those IDs with its database or read any PSIP program listings, so it doesn’t really matter what the station does with PSIP.

In the case of WHUT, TiVo’s database incorrectly identifies the RF channel for WHUTDT as 32 rather than 33, so that’s where it looks for it, and of course, there’s only an analog channel there, so it can’t tune it. A scan will find the channel on 33, if you can receive it, but you will get no listings. Even if the PSIP identified that station as WHUTDT instead of WHUT-DT, you would still have one WHUTDT with listings and a black screen, and one WHUTDT with a picture and no listings.

TiVo had the same problem with WNVCDT when it was on the air, because its database listed the RF as 56 rather than 57. (And still does.)

I'm looking to go fios in early 2009. Is that a special tier or is that the standard package?

I'm on the 50/20 tier. If you are in Northern Virginia the price is $90 a month. The other areas are $140 a month.

I know with the $90 a month pricing it doesn't qualify for any bundle discounts since the discount is already built into the price. But you can still get a double bundle discount with home phone and TV or a discount with cell service and TV service.(which is what I'm doing since I dropped my landline. It gives me $13 off the Extreme HD price)

I'm on the 50/20 tier. If you are in Northern Virginia the price is $90 a month. The other areas are $140 a month.

Didn't know that the 50 down / 20 up tier was less expensive here. But the 20/5 tier is plenty fast enough for me - and a lot cheaper. tonyd79, Verizon has aggressive bundle discounts for the 10/2 and 20/5 internet speeds, the TV packages, and phone packages. Verizon recently changed the TV product packages adding a HD Extreme package which provides all the HD channels, except for the premium movie channels. I think the most common bundle the HD viewers are going for is the 20/5 net, HD Extreme along with whichever set of movie packages, and phone landline/cell options. You can look up the various options for TV, net, phone here: http://www22.verizon.com/residential/fiostv. Click on the channel line-up tab to get the current Fios channel line-ups.

They started including it in their station IDs a few weeks ago, but I've been checking and I never saw a signal there before Potatoehead's post. This has been a hectic week so I can't remember when I last checked but I don't think it's been on more than a week.
...
Btw, do you know what happened with the TV Nightlight legislation? Did anything actually pass or did it die?
I think the TV Nightlight legislation allowing some analog stations to stay on the air for 30 days after 2/17/09 didn't get out of Congress with all the other stuff going on. They might try again to pass a new bill in January, but it is way, way late in the process to pick out and find stations which can keep an analog signal on the air without interferring with digital channel moves by other stations, are able and willing to spend the $ to maintain a 24/7 info loop analog broadcast to do so.

WWTD-LP may have started up the WJLA simulcast recently. I haven't checked analog 49 myself in some time. Noisy analog picture from Sterling.

I'm looking to go fios in early 2009. Is that a special tier or is that the standard package?

tonyd79-

My daughter, who also lives in Columbia has had FIOS for a while now. She received a mailer yesterday offering her a $150 service credit for everyone who she refers that goes to FIOS. You may want to have a friend/family member/neighbor who has FIOS look into it so they can get the credit for your switch.

I'm going to do the same next month as well. I'm fed up with Comcast's pricing and lack of channels in Howard County. I spoke to a regional manager, and they are just not willing to compete on price unless you take their phone service. I can't because I need distinctive ring which they don't offer. His suggestion was that I take a phone line and not use it:confused:. The numbers I ran come out to a savings of over $1000 per year for all services.

It could be that WHUT-DT is identifying itself as 33-1 in its PSIP, when it should be 32-1. (Is that what you're seeing?) ISTR something like that happening earlier.


WHUT-DT is listed as 32-1 digital frequency 33 (picture no guide data)
WHUTDT is listed as 32-1 digital frequency 32 (guide data no picture)

I only have tivo's so I am not sure if they have a way to display the PSIP data. I just remember a comment (which I can't find) saying that WNVC was advertising the wrong information in PSIP data, I think it was 57-1 Mhz1 on frequency 57 rather than 56-1.

Guys, thanks for the answers. My sister has Fios in Bethesda, I can let her get the finders fee if I follow through on the switch.

I have DirecTV for most stuff and Comcast for internet. When I look at Fios, I see a lot of stuff DirecTV doesn't have (DC locals and more movie channels), so I will want to steer Fios that way. Comcast has practically nothing DirecTV doesn't have (only WGN and a local or two) and DirecTV has the sports packages and other stuff I want, so DirecTV and Fios is a good match for me.

Thanks again.

Anyone know if Comcast in Arlington will be getting Spike TV HD anytime soon?

Also congratulations to Katy Bachman for using both Penetration and Double in her article's title, I'm sure that will lead to many hilarious search engine mishaps.:D:DI think the TV Nightlight legislation allowing some analog stations to stay on the air for 30 days after 2/17/09 didn't get out of Congress with all the other stuff going on.Actually it did. The House passed S. 3663 on Wednesday, December 10, as one of its last items of the year. It now goes to the President. Hopefully it will have no effect on the transition.

:D:DActually it did. The House passed S. 3663 on Wednesday, December 10, as one of its last items of the year. It now goes to the President. Hopefully it will have no effect on the transition.
Thanks for pointing that out. I would have thought the news of the House passage would have been posted at avsforum and the subject of debate, but I may have missed it. Industry press article at http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6621803.html. Presumably Bush will sign the bill.

Wonder which stations, if any, in the DC market would be able and willing to maintain an analog signal with an info loop for 30 days pass Feb. 17? WJLA, WUSA, WDCW are flash cutting to their analog channel, so they can't. WETA 26 is blocking WHAG-DT 25 from full power operation on UHF 26, so they can't. Don't know if WDCA 20 or WFDC 14 are blocking any other digital stations. The 2 low VHF stations, NBC owned WRC 4 and Fox owned WTTG 5, are probably the best candidates given the few number of full power low VHF stations after the transition.

The Baltimore stations get a little more complicated. WBAL 11 and WJZ 13 are flash cutting to their analog channel. WNUV 54, WFPT 62, WMPB 67 are out of core, so they hae to shut off. WUTB 24 is blocking WNVC-DT in Fairfax from going on the air at all. IIRC, WMAR 2's analog antenna is slated for removal after Feb. 17, so new antennas can be put up for WMAR-DT and WJZ-DT. Don' t know about WMPT 22.

20 & 14 are clear of any digital stations here in Hagerstown/Chambersburg. I don't know about NE, E, SE, S, or SSW of D.C. NOTE: WWTD-LD will be transmitting on 14 in Washington at 0.1KW

Same with WMPT-22 in Annapolis.

They shouldn't need an extra 30 days. i keep seeing messages posted during many of the shows I watch. If people use OTA then they certainly must not be watching it since the messages are everywhere about the digital cutoff. Why they would need to broadcast a message for 30 days past the cutoff makes no sense when they have been constantly sending a barrage of messgaes during the programming for many months already.

I'm pretty much sick of seeing it. People I know that couldn't care less about digital know about it and see the messages all the time too. The messages are working, but why would they need to keep broadcasting it after analog should be cutoff. I've been waiting for this analog cutoff for 7.5 years now. Since I first started watching and recording the digital OTA programming. I'll be glad when it's finally done and I don't have to hear about it any more.

If people use OTA then they certainly must not be watching it since the messages are everywhere about the digital cutoff. Why they would need to broadcast a message for 30 days past the cutoff makes no sense when they have been constantly sending a barrage of messgaes during the programming for many months already.


For those few who really don't get it and will only complain after the programming is really cut off.

The money that would be spent on keeping those analog transmitters on for an extra 30 days and producing the content would be better spent on buying a truckload of converter boxes, and rounding up volunteers to distribute and install them in the homes of the low-income elderly in our area who are most likely unprepared for the transition.

The early shutdown in the Wilmington, NC market showed that no how matter how much public notice and scrolling messages on the screen they provide, that a lot of people will not act until the analog signal is actually gone. Many people are confused about the transition (heck, I still see articles in the mainstream press which show a poor understanding of the transition), so they are just not dealing with it. Not a bad idea to keep 1 or 2 analog stations on the air in each market for 30 days post-transition with information on what to do so people don't think their TV is broken. Just rather late in the game to decide to do this. But the FCC probably could have ordered all stations that have a full power digital signal that covers >90% of their market to interrupt the analog broadcast 1-3 days prior to the scheduled analog shutdown for that station and show nothing but information messages.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, we have another analog shut-off "test" scheduled for tonight, Dec. 15, at 11:28 to 11:30 PM. Quoting part of the article: "Eleven stations in the market will simulate the cut-off of analog signals at 11:28-11:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, and at 7:28-7:30 p.m. on Dec. 17, when markets across the country will do their own variations on cut-off tests; then between 10:28 and 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 23." Time to check the cable & satellite SD channels to see how many are still from the analog source.

Would like to know if anyone get TNT HD in the clear. I only have video no audio and it tells me that it is encrypted.

I'm pretty much sick of seeing it. People I know that couldn't care less about digital know about it and see the messages all the time too. The messages are working, but why would they need to keep broadcasting it after analog should be cutoff.

For those who wake up from a 5 year coma the day after the switchover.

WUSA-TV moves to one-man-band ENG
Dec 15, 2008 9:34 AM

WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., will become the first station in the nation’s capital to replace its news crews with one-person multimedia journalists, who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly.

The change, reported by the “Washington Post,” will blur the distinctions between the station’s reporters and its camera and production workers. For decades, TV journalists have worked in teams, with the lines of responsibility regulated by union rules or simple tradition, according to the newspaper.

The transition is driven by increasing financial pressure on TV stations, as advertisers disappear from nightly newscasts and audiences scatter to the growing number of channels and Web sites.

WUSA, owned by Gannett, also plans an across-the-board cut in reporters’ salaries as it increases their responsibilities. Multimedia journalists will earn 30 to 50 percent less than what traditional reporters have been earning, with salaries topping out at around $90,000 annually, according to the newspaper’s sources.

The station will switch to the new system early next year, becoming one of the first stations in a major market to revamp its entire newsroom. Its agreement is with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents on-air reporters, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents production employees. Union members said they expect the agreement to be ratified.

A competing station, WRC-TV, Channel 4, is expected to begin phasing multimedia journalists into its newsroom later next year as part of a sweeping cost-cutting effort by its parent, NBC Universal. WJLA-TV, Channel 7, has already used some of the work of multimedia reporters employed by NewsChannel 8, the cable station that is owned by the parent of WJLA-TV, Allbritton Communications.

Veteran television journalists told the newspaper their concern isn’t the quantity of news that can be produced but the quality, because not all TV journalists are skilled enough to do a job formerly handled by specialists.

“There are some people who will be very good at this, and some not as much,” said Bill Lord, WJLA’s news director. “If you’re forcing everyone to do things against their skill levels and desire, your product suffers.”

Lord says stations in Nashville and San Francisco have used multimedia journalists on an experimental basis in recent years but have backed away because of “falling quality” and declining ratings.

The upcoming changes at WUSA have soured veteran reporter Gary Reels, who began working at the station in 1980. Reels has decided to take a buyout offer from the station and will leave Dec. 23. He doesn’t know yet what he’ll be doing next.
“It takes a lot of time to shoot and edit and write and prepare a story, and if you have one person doing all that, something has to give,” he said. “For those people who want to take the challenge of adding all that to their workload, my hat’s off to them. But it’s not something at my ripe old age that I care to venture into.”

http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/wusa-moves-one-man-band-eng-1215/

WUSA-TV moves to one-man-band ENG
Dec 15, 2008 9:34 AM

WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., will become the first station in the nation’s capital to replace its news crews with one-person multimedia journalists, who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly.

The change, reported by the “Washington Post,” will blur the distinctions between the station’s reporters and its camera and production workers. For decades, TV journalists have worked in teams, with the lines of responsibility regulated by union rules or simple tradition, according to the newspaper.

The transition is driven by increasing financial pressure on TV stations, as advertisers disappear from nightly newscasts and audiences scatter to the growing number of channels and Web sites.

WUSA, owned by Gannett, also plans an across-the-board cut in reporters’ salaries as it increases their responsibilities. Multimedia journalists will earn 30 to 50 percent less than what traditional reporters have been earning, with salaries topping out at around $90,000 annually, according to the newspaper’s sources.

The station will switch to the new system early next year, becoming one of the first stations in a major market to revamp its entire newsroom. Its agreement is with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents on-air reporters, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents production employees. Union members said they expect the agreement to be ratified.

A competing station, WRC-TV, Channel 4, is expected to begin phasing multimedia journalists into its newsroom later next year as part of a sweeping cost-cutting effort by its parent, NBC Universal. WJLA-TV, Channel 7, has already used some of the work of multimedia reporters employed by NewsChannel 8, the cable station that is owned by the parent of WJLA-TV, Allbritton Communications.

Veteran television journalists told the newspaper their concern isn’t the quantity of news that can be produced but the quality, because not all TV journalists are skilled enough to do a job formerly handled by specialists.

“There are some people who will be very good at this, and some not as much,” said Bill Lord, WJLA’s news director. “If you’re forcing everyone to do things against their skill levels and desire, your product suffers.”

Lord says stations in Nashville and San Francisco have used multimedia journalists on an experimental basis in recent years but have backed away because of “falling quality” and declining ratings.

The upcoming changes at WUSA have soured veteran reporter Gary Reels, who began working at the station in 1980. Reels has decided to take a buyout offer from the station and will leave Dec. 23. He doesn’t know yet what he’ll be doing next.
“It takes a lot of time to shoot and edit and write and prepare a story, and if you have one person doing all that, something has to give,” he said. “For those people who want to take the challenge of adding all that to their workload, my hat’s off to them. But it’s not something at my ripe old age that I care to venture into.”

http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/wusa-moves-one-man-band-eng-1215/

Sounds like a pretty terrible idea, to me.

In the end it will end up like all of those other innovations that we don't like when we hear about them, but somehow accept them over time.

Scanned through the SD locals in the 2-49 range on Verizon Fios during the analog shut-off "test". Verizon flunked it for WFDC 14, MPT 22, WETA 26. The other broadcast locals passed. Verizon has the digital feed for MPT and WETA, so they just need to downconvert the HD signal. Don't know if Verizon is getting the digital SD signal for WFDC Uni 14.

Sounds like a pretty terrible idea, to me.


It probably can't hurt their ratings. And they will save money too.

Anybody get popping on NBC-HD? Specifically with Comcast...all other channels are fine but it seems like with the DD5.1, you get intermittent popping...really annoying

WUSA-TV moves to one-man-band ENG
Dec 15, 2008 9:34 AM

WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., will become the first station in the nation’s capital to replace its news crews with one-person multimedia journalists, who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly.

Now where have I heard of this before... Hmm, oh wait, this was on in the late 80s - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_(TV_series)

Would like to know if anyone get TNT HD in the clear. I only have video no audio and it tells me that it is encrypted.It has been that way on Comcast for a while.

Neil

Anybody get popping on NBC-HD? Specifically with Comcast...all other channels are fine but it seems like with the DD5.1, you get intermittent popping...really annoying

Yes, very annoying. It's not horrible, but it's distracting, and just frequent enough so you can't ignore it.

I use OTA for NBC-HD, so it must be a source-signal problem.

Yet another data point that the engineers in the networks are asleep, or drunk, or playing video games most of the time. Or perhaps just completely unqualified for their jobs.

Here's another one - CBS-HD (DC) sends out a 5.1 signal, but is only "filling" the FL/FR channels (at least on Survivor and Amazing Race, all I watch on the station). Brilliant.

Broadcast network engineers I think are mostly promoted from window washers. Sorry, that's unfair to window washers...

Yes, very annoying. It's not horrible, but it's distracting, and just frequent enough so you can't ignore it.

I use OTA for NBC-HD, so it must be a source-signal problem.

Yet another data point that the engineers in the networks are asleep, or drunk, or playing video games most of the time. Or perhaps just completely unqualified for their jobs.

Here's another one - CBS-HD (DC) sends out a 5.1 signal, but is only "filling" the FL/FR channels (at least on Survivor and Amazing Race, all I watch on the station). Brilliant.

Broadcast network engineers I think are mostly promoted from window washers. Sorry, that's unfair to window washers...

Good, I was apart to tear apart my system looking to end the noise....its really quite annoying

When are the broadcasters going to activate the "Auto-Aspect-Ratio" feature for program content, so that I don't have to keep changing the Aspect Ratio between shows/programs?

I'd really like to leave my system set to "Auto" and let it do all the Ratio changing instead of doing it manually.

WNPB-DT out of Morgantown, WV has activated a bunch of digital translators and all are using the primary channel number of 24 as their "Call Sign." This has become a problem in the Shenandoah/Cumberland Valley, for those who were receiving WUTB 24 out of Baltimore. WNPB has a transmitter on channel 8, at 60KW (not ERP), out of Martinsburg, WV.

I find it interesting that the FCC doesn't have these translators in their TVQuery database.

This is the first, of several (~4) interference problems, I will see when this transition become complete.

NOTE:
Found the information in the FCC Query Database by accident. It's W08EE-D a LD station. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=167357

WNPB-DT out of Morgantown, WV has activated a bunch of digital translators and all are using the primary channel number of 24 as their "Call Sign." This has become a problem in the Shenandoah/Cumberland Valley, for those who were receiving WUTB 24 out of Baltimore. WNPB has a transmitter on channel 8, at 60KW (not ERP), out of Martinsburg, WV.
...
This is the first, of several (~4) interference problems, I will see when this transition become complete.
The digital and analog translators are in the FCC database as you found out. You just have to look for them with the right query. W08EE-D is broadcasting at 300 Watts on VHF 8, not 60 kW (which would make it a seriously powerful digital upper VHF station).

I would not call conflicting PSIP channel mapping "interference". It can get confusing if WO8EE-D is mapped to WNPB-DT channel 24.x when you can get WUTB-DT 24 OTA as well. But the physical RF channels are different. WUTB-DT My 24 is broadcasting on UHF 41 and will stay there after the transition. Your ATSC tuner should show both stations depending on how the firmware works; the 2nd one scanned in should get put at a higher sub-channel number. If you get both on a single scan, it should find W08EE first (WV PBS has 3 sub-channels according to wikipedia) and likely puts WUTB-DT at 24.4. Awkward, but both stations should be there. What do you get on your ATSC tuner(s)?

It has been that way on Comcast for a while.

Neil

I'm still trying to figure out why they removed the Qam channels for all of the Baltimore stations. MPT doesn't even show up anymore.

The PSIP standard apparently say that translators should use the major channel number of the station they're translating. So W08EE-D is actually doing everything right.

- Trip

I didn't see any update posted, but Cox-Fairfax did add the following HD offerings today:

Hallmark HD (premium/not a part of "basic" HD package?)
Weather Channel HD (no "Local on the 8s?", just the national version)
Planet Green HD (premium/not a part of "basic" HD package?)
AMC HD
WGN HD
Fox News HD
Speed HD
FX HD

CycloneGT, the chart in the first post doesn't reflect our other additions from the last round which included Lifetime Movies, CMT, VH1, Nickelodeon, MTV, Spike, and the Golf/Versus split.

-SUO

D.C. Council Gives FiOS TV Green Light

Verizon Awarded 15-Year Franchise for District of Columbia

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 12/16/2008 1:45:00 PM

The Washington, D.C. city council approved a 15-year cable franchise with Verizon Communications, which expects to start offering its FiOS TV service to residents starting in 2009 in competition with Comcast.

The Council of the District of Columbia on Tuesday passed legislation granting Verizon the cable franchise unanimously (with one abstention). The legislation must be approved by Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Under the terms of the franchise, Verizon will make FiOS TV available throughout D.C. over the next nine years.

“The D.C. Council today has taken a bold step forward for residents who deserve more choice in who provides their pay-TV service,” William Roberts, Verizon regional president for Maryland and Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

According to Verizon, the franchise—as previously negotiated with the District of Columbia Office of Cable Television—commits to nine public, educational and government channels, with the possibility of adding five more; support for those channels in the form of a 3% fee on gross revenues, and an "extensive and appropriate set of customer service provisions."

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6623256.html

PRESS RELEASE

D.C. Residents Closer to Much-Deserved Cable TV Choice

Last update: 2:45 p.m. EST Dec. 16, 2008

WASHINGTON, Dec 16, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- D.C. Council Takes 'Bold Step Forward' in Approving Franchise Legislation; Verizon to Offer Its Award-Winning FiOS TV Service Throughout District Within Nine Years; First Residents Will be able to Order Service Within a Year

The Council of the District of Columbia Tuesday (Dec. 16) unanimously approved, with one abstention, legislation authorizing Verizon Washington DC to offer its all-fiber-optic FiOS TV service to District residents. As part of the 15-year cable franchise included in the legislation, Verizon will make FiOS TV available throughout the District over the next nine years. The legislation now moves to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty for his signature into law. The following response should be attributed to William R. Roberts, Verizon regional president for Maryland and Washington, D.C.:

"The D.C. Council today has taken a bold step forward for residents who deserve more choice in who provides their pay-TV service. And Verizon is eager to begin offering District residents FiOS TV, an award-winning, superior alternative to their current cable TV service, with more high-definition channels and innovative interactive features cable companies don't provide.

"In reviewing the franchise legislation, the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs, under the leadership of Committee Chair Mary Cheh, received testimony from dozens of District residents who called for more cable competition. We salute the committee's thorough examination.

"We thank Mayor Fenty and his administration for their continued support throughout this process, and we urge the mayor to sign this legislation quickly so that Verizon can start bringing the many benefits of cable TV choice to District residents in 2009."

SOURCE Verizon

http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-16-2008/0004943029&EDATE=

The WNPB Engineer told me that they were transmitting at 60 watts. I thought he miss spoke and meant 60KW, that's why I noted that the value I posted was not ERP.

He and I had that conversation about designators and he did reference the FCC mandate but he doesn't like it either, because of the PSIP conflicts.

Rather than bother CycloneGT about updated channels in the first post, I've imported his chart into a Google Docs spreadsheet:

http://snurl.com/wash-balt-hdtv (sn<ipped> URL)

I think I've updated VA-Cox properly, adding the appropriate channel numbers. There's also a comment in the "VA-Cox" header cell with the URL to the official Cox-Fairfax lineup.

This document is editable by anyone. If you get prompted to log in, you are probably blocking cookies from Google.

I only ask that some responsible readers update and verify the information within the spreadsheet ... noting any changes on the second worksheet ('Update History' link at the bottom). Due to my vBulletin=>csv=>GoogleDocs conversion, I am fairly certain that some data in the last three colums are "off by one."

Enjoy!

-SUO

NOTE: Some columns to the right of VA-Cox may be off a little.

One needs an account to access that page.
J

Rather than bother CycloneGT about updated channels in the first post, I've imported his chart into a Google Docs spreadsheet:

http://snurl.com/wash-balt-hdtv (sn<ipped> URL)

I think I've updated VA-Cox properly, adding the appropriate channel numbers. There's also a comment in the "VA-Cox" header cell with the URL to the official Cox-Fairfax lineup.

This document is editable by anyone. If you get prompted to log in, you are probably blocking cookies from Google.

I only ask that some responsible readers update and verify the information within the spreadsheet ... noting any changes on the second worksheet ('Update History' link at the bottom). Due to my vBulletin=>csv=>GoogleDocs conversion, I am fairly certain that some data in the last three colums are "off by one."

Enjoy!

-SUO

NOTE: Some columns to the right of VA-Cox may be off a little.

I've updated the channel numbers for RCN, and added a line for MLB Network HD, since I had the upcoming channel number for RCN.

Big J - I don't claim to be a Google Docs expert. The spreadsheet is *supposed* to be editable by anyone without an account. However, even I've been prompted to log in at times, while I haven't been prompted at other times. Same thing happens with my Blu-Ray audio chart.

Thanks for the updates, machpost. Silly question: Is is safe to say that all of the HBO/MAX/SHO channels on RCN are premium or are they included by default? I'd only want to shade them blue, if needed.

-SUO

Thanks for the updates, machpost. Silly question: Is is safe to say that all of the HBO/MAX/SHO channels on RCN are premium or are they included by default? I'd only want to shade them blue, if needed.

-SUO

The HBO, MAX, SHO, and TMC channels are indeed premiums. There is also a "Premium HD Suite" now, which includes HD Theater, Smithsonian HD, HDNet & Movies, MGM HD, Universal HD, and Hallmark Movies HD. I've also marked those as premium.

I haven't seen it yet but users on dbstalk are reporting that DirecTV has added MPT (Annapolis 22) in HD today for the Baltimore market.

I haven't seen it yet but users on dbstalk are reporting that DirecTV has added MPT (Annapolis 22) in HD today for the Baltimore market.
I wish that WMPT-DT 22 (42) would increase their OTA power level! Their programming just seems to make more sense than WETA-DT.

Does anyone know if WUSA-DT will participate in CBS digital TVGOS data broadcasting? I know they are not O&O, but various OTA devices, including the new DishDVR, can make good use of the TVGOS data. This site seems to imply that Washington is/will miss out:

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=tvgos

I wish that WMPT-DT 22 (42) would increase their OTA power level! Their programming just seems to make more sense than WETA-DT.

I agree. Too bad almost none of it is HD.

Here is the Station List that I'm working off to try and re-acquire the anaolg stations I'll be loosing when the digital transition happens in Feb. I thought those who live along the I-81 corridor might like to have a better understanding of what will happen.

CURRENT ATSC CHANNEL
|FUTURE ATSC CHANNEL
|NTSC CHANNEL (VIRTUAL)
|CITY
|NETWORK
|CALL

39 (646)|7 (30)|7 (316)|DC|ABC|WJLA-DT
58 (907)/8 (0.3)|8 (7.5)/(0.3)|8 (110)/50 "24" (11.94)|York/Lancaster / Martinsburg|NBC / WV-PBS|WGAL-DT / W08EE-D (WNPB-DT)
34 (1000)|9 (12.6)|9 (316)|DC|CBS|WUSA-DT
10 (16.2)|10 (19.7)|27* (2140)|Harrisburg|ABC|WHTM-DT
59 (513)|11 (5)|11 (316)|Baltimore|NBC|WBAL-DT
12 (23)|12 (23)|60 (2040)|Martinsburg|iON|WWPX-DT
38 (1000)|13 (28.8)|13 (316)|Baltimore|CBS|WJZ-DT
15 (325)|15 (1000)|14 (2680)|Arlington|Univision|WFDC-DT
4 (2.3)/21 (50)|21 (450)/(100)|21 (1200) & 42 (141)|Harrisburg & Front Royal|CBS & VA PBS|WHP-DT & WVPY-DT
23 (500)|23 (500)|15 (1050)|Lancaster|CW|WLYH-DT
24 (1000)|24 (1000)|23* (708)|Altoona|ABC|WATM-DT
55 (.9)|26 (575)|25 (1350)|Hagerstown|NBC|WHAG-DT
27 (90)|27 (90)|26 (2290)|DC|PBS|WETA-DT
28 (30)|28 (41.2)|62 (3160)|Frederick|PBS|WFPT-DT
29 (14)|29 (1000)|8 (166)|Johnstown|FOX|WWCP-DT
30 (500)|30 (500)|49 (646)|Red Lion|Independent|WGCB-DT
32 (883)|32 (883)|10 (231)|Altoona|CBS|WTAJ-DT
33 (100)|33 (1000)|32* (5000)|DC|Howard Univ.|WHUT-DT
34 (1000)/(110)|34 (1000)/(1000)|6 (70.8) & 43 (350)|Johnstown & Manassas|NBC & iON|WJAC-DT & WPXW-DT
35 (500)|35 (950)|20 (3980)|DC|MyNetwork|WDCA-DT
36 (1000)/(50)|36 (1000)/(140)|5 (100) & 33 (1100)|DC & Harrisburg|FOX & PBS|WTTG-DT & WITF-DT
37|37|37|Everywhere|Not Used|N/A
52 (602)|38 (1000)|2 (100)|Baltimore|ABC|WMAR-DT
39 (34)|39 (105)|68 (3890)|Chambersburg/Hagerstown|Entravision|WJAL-DT
40 (845)|40 (845)|54 (5000)|Baltimore|CW|WNUV-DT
41 (200)|41 (290)|24 (1170)|Baltimore|MyNetwork|WUTB-DT
44 (209)|44 (1000)|31 (4070)|Hagerstown|MPT PBS|WWPB-DT
46 (550)|46 (550)|45 (1290)|Baltimore|FOX|WBFF-DT
47 (933)|47 (933)|43 (2140)|York/Lancaster|FOX|WPMT-DT
48 (813)|48 (813)|4 (100)|DC|NBC|WRC-DT
51 (125)|50 (1000)|50 (4168)|DC|CW|WDCW-DT
-|51 (15)|51 (64)|Chambersburg|CW|W51CY (WDCW-LD)() = Power Level in KW ERP
Blue = Two stations on the same Frequency
Purple = Frequncy Change June 12th 2009
Orange = Power Increase

NOTE (1): Frequency changes will also include Power Level changes.

NOTE (2): The list is sorted by the real channel numbers for June 12th, 2009.

Has anyone with FIOS Internet had their speed increased? I noticed that FIOS lowest tier Internet is now 10/2 yet my connection is still 5/2.

Last time I checked, my 5/2 was still 5/2. Someone said that you had to call them up to get them to bump it up. I haven't done it since I fear that they'll mis-hear me and upgrade me to the $10 more a month package.

Rather than bother CycloneGT about updated channels in the first post, I've imported his chart into a Google Docs spreadsheet:

http://snurl.com/wash-balt-hdtv (sn<ipped> URL)


Pretty slick. Good use of Google Docs too.

I edited it. It has some of the Fox Cable channels listed for Dish. They aren't there yet. Wish they were.

Does anyone know if WUSA-DT will participate in CBS digital TVGOS data broadcasting? I know they are not O&O, but various OTA devices, including the new DishDVR, can make good use of the TVGOS data. This site seems to imply that Washington is/will miss out:

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=tvgos

WUSA-DT started transmitting digital TVGOS data on October 1, confirmed via email discussions I had with a WUSA engineer. I'm now getting it on my Sony DVR via local Comcast cable card mapped to QAM channel 212 (WUSA-HD). However, can't say how well it can be picked up OTA on 9.1; that could be somewhat dependent on which version TVGOS firmware you have (my Sony has V8) and, of course, your antenna setup.

WRC just showed an HD car commercial during the local news.

WMAR, WBAL, WJZ, and WBFF all passed the DTV test on Comcast today at 5:45.

dspadoni & GeraldC,

A group of us with LG-3410A DVR's are awaiting the OTA transmission of Version 7 data on the HD channels.

I got an e-mail response, after asking WUSA about the TVGOS v7 data. The engineering staff indicated that they are receiving a TVGOS stream, and were unsure of which versions of TVGOS data is in it. Here is the answer:


We asked TV Guide this very question and they responded back that as of now, they are not sending version 7 on the HD feeds. They are on the Analog feeds but we only carry the TV Guide Data on HD here.

The next release is being bench tested and they hope to implement early in Q1 2009.

Best Regards, Richard

Richard Gorbutt
Manager of Technology


We hope that the v7 data in the VBI will be available either through the DVR itself or by using the Dish DTVPal converter box. Thus far, information is very limited.

I didn't see any update posted, but Cox-Fairfax did add the following HD offerings today:

Hallmark HD (premium/not a part of "basic" HD package?)
Weather Channel HD (no "Local on the 8s?", just the national version)
Planet Green HD (premium/not a part of "basic" HD package?)

-SUO

I have the same situation with Hallmark and Planet Green. Not that I'm dying to see the Hallmark HD channel, but looking at cox.com it would appear that both of these channels should be on the regular HD tier, and that we should be receiving them. Anybody else have any ideas?

One other note. My Tivo informed me that Cox also added the new MLB channel (SD only, for now) on channel 261. There again, I don't get the channel, probably because it's part of the special sports tier that I don't currently pay for (I believe it's $5 a month). Once they add the HD channel I think I'll probably upgrade, though...

D* added MPT HD in Baltimore today.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6623771.html

Here is the Station List that I'm working off to try and re-acquire the anaolg stations I'll be loosing when the digital transition happens in Feb. I thought those who live along the I-81 corridor might like to have a better understanding of what will happen.

Good job putting all that info together! However, you need to be careful in some of the post-transition power levels you have in the table. Some of the stations have filed maximized power applications which have not yet been granted or denied: WWPB-DT, WMPT-DT, WVPY-DT, WPXW-DT, WDCA-DT, WUTB-DT, WHUT-DT, WDCW-DT, and others. If you are using the FCC database listings, "APP" means application which the FCC has not acted on yet. The "CP" and "CP Mod" are construction permits granted by the FCC, so the station is authorized to operate at or go to that allotment. For the maximize filings, that means after midnight, Feb. 17. "LIC" = Licensed operation.

BTW, WBFF-DT is operating at 550 kW, not the 46 kW shown in the table. WBFF-DT's database entry needs to be cleaned up.

If you update the table, in the post-transition column, you might want to list authorized post-transition power and what the station has asked for in a (xxx|yyy) format. For WMPT-DT, that would be (150|516). The FCC may grant more maximize filings tomorrow, but at this close to the transition, wouldn't count on the station being ready to operate at the increased power on Feb. 18.

BTW, for those who have a hard time getting WMPT-DT 22, the maximize power filings were granted for WFPT-DT 62 (28) in Frederick from 30 to 41.2 kW and WMPB-DT 67 (29) in Baltimore from 14 to 42.6 kW. So you might be able to get MPT from those stations when they increase power if you can't get WMPT-DT itself.

The VHF power levels seem much lower. Was that the deciding factor for WJLA and WUSA to switch back to their VHF frequency?
That would be a big savings on their electric bill.

I can see why Nielsen moved the February sweeps to March. There will probably be a fair amount of people that have problems with channels moving from UHF to VHF, not to mention the other issues people will have with the digital switch.

Here is the Station List that I'm working off to try and re-acquire the anaolg stations I'll be loosing when the digital transition happens in Feb. I thought those who live along the I-81 corridor might like to have a better understanding of what will happen.

CURRENT ATSC CHANNEL|FUTURE ATSC CHANNEL|NTSC CHANNEL (VIRTUAL)|CITY|NETWORK|CALL
39 (646)|7 (30)|7 (316)|DC|ABC|WJLA-DT
58 (907)/8 (0.3)|8 (7.5)/(0.3)|8 (110)/50 "24" (11.94)|York/Lancaster / Martinsburg|NBC / WV-PBS|WGAL-DT / W08EE-D/WNPB-DT
34 (1000)|9 (12.6)|9 (316)|DC|CBS|WUSA-DT
10 (16.2)|10 (19.7)|27* (2140)|Harrisburg|ABC|WHTM-DT
59 (513)|11 (5)|11 (316)|Baltimore|NBC|WBAL-DT
12 (23)|12 (23)(30?)|60 (2040)|Martinsburg|iON|WWPX-DT
38 (1000)|13 (28.8)|13 (316)|Baltimore|CBS|WJZ-DT
15 (325)|15 (1000)|14 (2680)|Arlington|Univision|WFDC-DT
4 (2.3)/21 (50)|21 (450)/(100)|21 (1200) & 42 (141)|Harrisburg & Front Royal|CBS & VA PBS|WHP-DT & WVPY-DT
23 (500)|23 (500)|15 (1050)|Lancaster|CW|WLYH-DT
24 (1000)|24 (1000)|23* (708)|Altoona|ABC|WATM-DT
55 (.9)|26 (575)|25 (1350)|Hagerstown|NBC|WHAG-DT
27 (90)|27 (90)|26 (2290)|DC|PBS|WETA-DT
28 (30)|28 (41.2)|62 (3160)|Frederick|PBS|WFPT-DT
29 (14)|29 (1000)|8 (166)|Johnstown|FOX|WWCP-DT
30 (500)|30 (500)|49 (646)|Red Lion|Independent|WGCB-DT
32 (883)|32 (883)|10 (231)|Altoona|CBS|WTAJ-DT
33 (100)|33 (1000)|32* (5000)|DC|Howard Univ.|WHUT-DT
34 (1000)/(110)|34 (1000)/(1000)|6 (70.8) & 43 (350)|Johnstown & Manassas|NBC & iON|WJAC-DT & WPXW-DT
35 (1.172)|35 (950)|20 (3980)|DC|MyNetwork|WDCA-DT
36 (1000)/(50)|36 (1000)/(140)|5 (100) & 33 (1100)|DC & Harrisburg|FOX & PBS|WTTG-DT & WITF-DT
37|37|37|Everywhere|Not Used|N/A
52 (602)|38 (1000)|2 (100)|Baltimore|ABC|WMAR-DT
16 (6)|39 (105)|68 (3890)|Chambersburg/Hagerstown|Independent|WJAL-DT
40 (845)|40 (845)|54 (5000)|Baltimore|CW|WNUV-DT
41 (.53)|41 (290)|24 (1170)|Baltimore|MyNetwork|WUTB-DT
44 (209)|44 (1000)|31 (4070)|Hagerstown|MPT PBS|WWPB-DT
46 (46.6)|46 (550)|45 (1290)|Baltimore|FOX|WBFF-DT
47 (933)|47 (933)|43 (2140)|York/Lancaster|FOX|WPMT-DT
48 (813)|48 (813)|4 (100)|DC|NBC|WRC-DT
51 (125)|50 (1000)|50 (4168)|DC|CW|WDCW-DT
-|51 (15)|50 (1000)|Chambersburg|CW|W51CY (WDCW-LD)

() = Power Level in KW ERP
Blue = Two stations on the same Frequency
Purple = Frequncy Change Feb 17th 2009
Orange = Power Increase

NOTE: Frequency changes will also include Power Level changes.

D* added MPT HD in Baltimore today.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6623771.html

Really? No kidding?

;)

The Baseball Network is now in MoCo on 280. It's a preview of the 1/1 launch.

MLB Network (SD) added on Comcast in Baltimore City.

Weather Channel HD (no "Local on the 8s?", just the national version)

It's coming. Apparently it's being tested on Cablevision in NYC right now: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15294488#post15294488

Looks pretty nice, judging from the video clip in that thread.

It's coming. Apparently it's being tested on Cablevision in NYC right now: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15294488#post15294488

Looks pretty nice, judging from the video clip in that thread.


It does look nice. We have it on FIOS. I get more use from The Weather Channel HD than from any of the ESPN channels.

The VHF power levels seem much lower. Was that the deciding factor for WJLA and WUSA to switch back to their VHF frequency?
That would be a big savings on their electric bill.
I would guess that is correct reasoning in general. But there can be other factors to consider. See here (http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/17026) and here (http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518908204)for some of the details. Also, while channels 7 and 9 will be fine, reusing lower VHF channels can be more problemmatic. The lowest freqs (chan 2-3) are subject to impulse noise interference, and the mid lows (4-6) can be affected significantly by spurious emissions from home computers, routers, etc.

Good job putting all that info together! However, you need to be careful in some of the post-transition power levels you have in the table. Some of the stations have filed maximized power applications which have not yet been granted or denied: WWPB-DT, WMPT-DT, WVPY-DT, WPXW-DT, WDCA-DT, WUTB-DT, WHUT-DT, WDCW-DT, and others. If you are using the FCC database listings, "APP" means application which the FCC has not acted on yet. The "CP" and "CP Mod" are construction permits granted by the FCC, so the station is authorized to operate at or go to that allotment. For the maximize filings, that means after midnight, Feb. 17. "LIC" = Licensed operation.
You are correct! I listed the higher amount, knowing that that was a power level that could be their maximum, if their application was approved.
BTW, WBFF-DT is operating at 550 kW, not the 46 kW shown in the table. WBFF-DT's database entry needs to be cleaned up.
According to the FCC database, the 550KW is only a DT CP. They have a DS STA license of 35 (341 meters) & 46.6KW's (372.8 meters). I wonder if they'll ever remove the current NTSC antenna (386 meters) and move the ATSC antenna 13 meters higher.
If you update the table, in the post-transition column, you might want to list authorized post-transition power and what the station has asked for in a (xxx|yyy) format. For WMPT-DT, that would be (150|516). The FCC may grant more maximize filings tomorrow, but at this close to the transition, wouldn't count on the station being ready to operate at the increased power on Feb. 18.
Thanks for the feedback. I like that idea.

According to the FCC database, the 550KW is only a DT CP. They have a DS STA license of 35 (341 meters) & 46.6KW's (372.8 meters). I wonder if they'll ever remove the current NTSC antenna (386 meters) and move the ATSC antenna 13 meters higher.

The FCC database is notorious for its inaccuracies.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1089804&Service=DT&Form_id=2&Facility_id=10758

That's their license to cover, filed almost 4 years ago. They're operating at the 550 kW level.

EDIT: Also note that STAs expire if not renewed every 6 months, and the WBFF STAs have not been renewed since that time.

- Trip

The FCC has set power level maximum for DT VHF (2-13) at 30KW, while the power level maximum for DT UHF (14-69) is set at 1000KW. After Feb 17th 2009, the frequencies for the channel range of 52 to 69 are to be allocated for other uses.

The FCC has set power level maximum for DT VHF (2-13) at 30KW, while the power level maximum for DT UHF (14-69) is set at 1000KW. After Feb 17th 2009, the frequencies for the channel range of 52 to 69 are to be allocated for other uses.
The absolute maximum ERPs allowed by the FCC for digital VHF low 2-6 is 45 kW and 160 kW for upper VHF 7-13. But few stations have been authorized to broadcast near those ERPs for VHF. Looking at Falcon_77's spreadsheet (http://www.rabbitears.info/ss/), there are 2 stations who will be at 45 kW on VHF 5 post-transition (KHAS-DT in Nebraska, KYES-DT in Anchorage, Alaska). KDMT-DT 12 in Beaumont, TX will be at 160 kW on VHF 12 and will probably burn through any interference they may get. :D

For NTSC analog, the long standing limits are VHF low: 100 kW, VHF high: 316 kW, UHF: 5000 kW. The approximate ATSC replication for 5000kW NTSC UHF would be nominally 350 kW, so UHF analog stations that are operating at 800 to 1000 kW digitally - assuming same height for the antenna - should actually improve their coverage area for the digital broadcast over what they have for analog.

Meanwhile, getting this back to our market, WBAL-DT 11 in Baltimore which broadcasts at 316 kW analog will be at a very modest 5 kW digital on VHF 11 post-transition. I'm anticipating a lot of, hey, what happened to WBAL-DT postings here after February 17.

BTW, you left WNVC-DT MHz 56 off your list which will be broadcasting at 160 kW on UHF 24 out of Fairfax, VA post-transition. If you get the weaker DC stations, you might get WNVC-DT after it goes back on the air. But you may also get some interference between WNVC-DT and WATM-DT out of Altoona, if you get WATM-DT now. They are packing the stations and channels a lot closer together with the removal of UHF 52-69 and that will create some problems.

Last time I checked, my 5/2 was still 5/2. Someone said that you had to call them up to get them to bump it up. I haven't done it since I fear that they'll mis-hear me and upgrade me to the $10 more a month package.
Yeah, I don't want to rock the boat but I'm just checking if anyone was bumped up without a call.

The absolute maximum ERPs allowed by the FCC for digital VHF low 2-6 is 45 kW and 160 kW for upper VHF 7-13. But few stations have been authorized to broadcast near those ERPs for VHF. Looking at Falcon_77's spreadsheet (http://www.rabbitears.info/ss/), there are 2 stations who will be at 45 kW on VHF 5 post-transition (KHAS-DT in Nebraska, KYES-DT in Anchorage, Alaska). KDMT-DT 12 in Beaumont, TX will be at 160 kW on VHF 12 and will probably burn through any interference they may get. :D

One minor nitpick, the 45 kW and 160 kW limits are only valid in Zone II. Washington DC and most of the northeast and Great Lakes region is in Zone I. There, the limits are 10 kW and 30 kW, respectively.

- Trip

I would consider that a clarification. Since there will not be any VHF-low stations in the Altoona/Baltimore/DC/Harrisburg-Lancaster-York areas, 10KW doesn't make a difference to my list. As for WNVC-DT, since I don't get it now, I didn't consider it. I guess I'll take a look.

What network is it?

As for WNVC-DT, since I don't get it now, I didn't consider it. I guess I'll take a look.

What network is it?

WNVC-DT operated on channel 57 at 7.3 kW from a side-mounted antenna. You very likely were unable to see it even before it signed off on 09/30/08 (it will return on 02/18/09).

It's called MHz. The main (56-1) is "MHz WorldView" and airs a number of foreign newscasts (in English) and other odds and ends. The subchannels are dedicated to specific languages.

I love MHz WorldView.

- Trip

Looking at the Service Contour Map (41 dBu) (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1249017.html) of WNVC-DT, it doesn't appear that they are looking to service the I-81 corridor, although Frederick should be able to receive it.

The FCC shows that it is owned by the VA-PBS and there is a VA-PBS station serving the Front Royal area (which I get) on ATSC 21 (WVPY-DT).

I doubt I'll ever be able to see WETA (26) again also.

Trip,

I was looking at your site and noticed that you were showing a co-ord between WPXW & WJLA. Shouldn't it be between WPXW & WUSA?

Trip,

I was looking at your site and noticed that you were showing a co-ord between WPXW & WJLA. Shouldn't it be between WPXW & WUSA?

That's what I thought. I'm just listing what the FCC filing said, thus the question mark.

The FCC shows that it is owned by the VA-PBS and there is a VA-PBS station serving the Front Royal area (which I get) on ATSC 21 (WVPY-DT).

I doubt I'll ever be able to see WETA (26) again also.

Virginia is not Maryland. Its PBS stations are not commonly owned. WNVC and WNVT are owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, which also owns WCVE/WCVW Richmond and WHTJ in Charlottesville. WVPT and WVPY are owned by a different group and have completely different programming.

As far as WETA goes, we'll see what happens there. A lot is still up in the air.

- Trip

[QUOTE=systems2000;15328733]<snip>

According to the FCC database, the 550KW is only a DT CP. They have a DS STA license of 35 (341 meters) & 46.6KW's (372.8 meters). I wonder if they'll ever remove the current NTSC antenna (386 meters) and move the ATSC antenna 13 meters higher.

<snip> QUOTE]

The reason that the NTSC antenna is 13 meters higher is because it is connected to the top of the DTV antenna. We can't move the DTV antenna up, there would be nothing to put it on...

.

Virginia is not Maryland. Its PBS stations are not commonly owned. WNVC and WNVT are owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, which also owns WCVE/WCVW Richmond and WHTJ in Charlottesville. WVPT and WVPY are owned by a different group and have completely different programming.
I saw that it was owned by "Commonwealth." I thought that since PA and VA consider themselves Commonwealth's instead of States, that it was owned by the Commonwealth of VA.

I saw that it was owned by "Commonwealth." I thought that since PA and VA consider themselves Commonwealth's instead of States, that it was owned by the Commonwealth of VA.
A useful summary of the programming for WNVC and WNVT-DT can be found at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNVC. Once WNVC-DT goes back on the air, they should resume having at least 4 sub-channels on each station with a total of 8 unique MHz 1 to 8 sub-channels. It is an interesting use of the multiple sub-channel capability with digital broadcasting. More useful than another weather sub-channel. Since they don't have a HD sub-channel, no picture quality issues with 4 to 5 SD sub-channels. The post-transition digital coverage area for WNVC-DT on UHF 24 is larger than the analog WNVC-TV 56, but it sounds as if you will fall outside of their DT coverage area.

WBAL has began using an HD bug during telecasts. I wonder if this is a sign that they will soon begin HD newscasts.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4473/vlcsnap276374yc4.png

FX-HD, Fox News HD, and Speed HD popped up in my Tivo channel list today for Comcast DC. (No Tivo message yet about them being added, and no guide data--I just happened to be wandering through making my Favorites lineup, and saw them)

I wish Santa would bring me Weather Channel HD.

WBAL is showing NFL Network's coverage of the Ravens game in HD. It has the local HD bug.

I think my CM7777 is bad. I've had it for 3 years. Is it possible? I have my D* HD TiVo hooked up via OTA as well, and I found a few shows I had set to record via OTA this week. Tonight I tried to watch those shows, but discovered they had not been recorded due to no signal. I checked a few channels, and found no signal. I hooked up my TV directly from the CM 7777, and the only channel I'm getting in fine is the Goldvein MHz feed - but it's only a few miles from my house.

Because my digital channels except for 30-X aren't coming in, and I am getting a picture, but snowy, on 4, 5, 7, and 9, I don't believe it's the antenna. Would a CM 7777 only last 3 years? I know I can just go buy another one, hook it up, and find out. But this weekend the weather is not ideal to be climbing on the roof. Could it also just be one end as well, the end that I have to plug in and send to my 1x4 splitter? The inside portion was not warm; should it be when it's plugged in?

I have a 7775. For what it's worth, I have tried to unplug it to see what signal I get without it. The answer, absolutely nothing. When it is not getting power, it doesn't just stop amplifying, it seems to completely block the signal from the antenna.

I think my CM7777 is bad. I've had it for 3 years. Is it possible?
Yes. It is a piece of electronics, it can fail. But I would check the power supply first. I had to replace the power supply for my CM 7777 by buying a discounted returned unit at solidsignal. The circuit board for the power supply is not very well made. If you have a multi-meter, connect a short co-axial cable to the power supply (plugged in) and check the DC voltage from the center wire to the outer shield. If there is no voltage, you likely have a bad power supply. But you should also unplug the power supply, wait several minutes, and plug it back in. That fixed my CM 7777 once when I was getting no channels.

If you are very close, the WNVT-DT signal may be strong enough to be picked by the cable after the CM 7777. If the CM 7777 is dead or there is no power to it, there is very little signal coming from the antenna. If you want to get some stations while waiting for a replacement unit, you will have to climb up there and bypass the CM 7777. But triple check the ladder placement and each step you take - we are in for windy weather today.

I think my CM7777 is bad. I've had it for 3 years. Is it possible? I have my D* HD TiVo hooked up via OTA as well, and I found a few shows I had set to record via OTA this week. Tonight I tried to watch those shows, but discovered they had not been recorded due to no signal. I checked a few channels, and found no signal. I hooked up my TV directly from the CM 7777, and the only channel I'm getting in fine is the Goldvein MHz feed - but it's only a few miles from my house.

Because my digital channels except for 30-X aren't coming in, and I am getting a picture, but snowy, on 4, 5, 7, and 9, I don't believe it's the antenna. Would a CM 7777 only last 3 years? I know I can just go buy another one, hook it up, and find out. But this weekend the weather is not ideal to be climbing on the roof. Could it also just be one end as well, the end that I have to plug in and send to my 1x4 splitter? The inside portion was not warm; should it be when it's plugged in?


My CM 7777 from ~2005 only lasted a couple of years. After my 7777 broke, I put a Radio Shack amp back up until the analogs started looking really snowy. The RS amp, even when brand new wasn't as good as the 7777. I recently bought another 7777 and it's working great (for now). If my current 7777 breaks, I will buy another. It's difficult to find an amp with a low noise level. A noisy amp will really kill a digital signal.

Anybody noticing choppy audio on the SNF Panthers-Giants game tonight? Had to flip to Desperate Housewives just to confirm my new HT wasn't at fault.

I noticed the Choppiness on WRC. I have switched over to WBAL and its smooth as silk.

yeah - choppy crowd noise on WRC

WBAL has began using an HD bug during telecasts. I wonder if this is a sign that they will soon begin HD newscasts.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4473/vlcsnap276374yc4.png

I noticed that as well. There is a Broadcasting and Engineering article concerning their upgrade to HD Production. (I would have posted the link but I dont have enough posts, just google WBAL HD News, the article is the third result. There have been occasional segments broadcasted from the new control room

But this morning they had major technical issues that lasted for over an hour. For a while they were broadcasting MSNBC's Simulcast and on occasion Weather Plus. The Today show went on time, and the first two or three live news breaks they had no graphics and the picture quality sucked. The HD feed was broadcasting but there was no audio, how ever you could hear proper audio on their SD feed, from Comcast.

So far they have gave no information on what was happened. How ever during one of the news segments concerning the winter weather Neal Estano was shown working the computer systems on the new set. So I guess its any minute now.

Now here is the link: http://broadcastengineering.com/be-excellence-awards/wbal-baltimore-upgrades-production-system/

I got a surprise tonight! I'm getting WTTG! Maybe there's hope yet that I'll be better off than I thought come Feb.

After I peaked the signal, I did a rescan. No WJLA, No WRC, No WUSA, No WDCW, No WDCA, & No WETA. :(

What's going on with WWPX (12) 60-1?

I can't watch any iON Christmas Movies. :(

Right now, all I see on my local ION is a Power Juicer infomercial. Nothing Christmas-y about that! :D

You know, unless you want to get that special someone a juicer. :p

Seriously though, is it off the air or on the air with a blank screen? What exactly is wrong with it?

- Trip

Any local places to buy Channel Master amplifiers? I'll probably just buy another CM 7777 and see if it works. I believe my local Radio Shack has it, but it was about $90. I bought it online for $60. Gas prices now a bit lower, I"m willing to do a bit of driving if I can find it cheap.

You might try that Electronic place in Laurel. Honestly, I just used solid signal .com and it was delivered pretty quick.